f13.net

http://hockeypool.cbc.ca/cbc/hnicp11/enter_picks

group name: f13
group password: bmtb

deadline (for 1st round) is wed, 7p EST

In.

Same.

In with zero clue about most of these players these days.

I'm in.  This should be fun. 

Watch yourselves.....I'm an expert at this.  :grin:

Shall we put our playoff predictions in here as well, or start a new thread?

Do any of these websites to a playoff deal like March Madness?  That would be nice.

Pool deadline looming…

Predictions?

Who know this season…

Let me go out on a limb and predict…

…Sharks over Bruins in Cup final!

Flyers over whoever...

A guy can dream, right?

Canucks over Boston in 6. Which I will never live to see, since they won 2-0 last night and the stress of that almost killed me.

Image deleted in hopes of lifting the curse it seemed to bring.

 :ye_gods:

Holy defensive breakdowns, Batman! :awesome_for_real:

Seriously. WTF just happened.

Ya'll just got facerolled.

please to be finishing CHI off Thursday plzkthx.

I knew they would roll over as soon as I posted that pic. :facepalm:


I have now deleted the pic in a vain attempt to placate the obviously furious hockey gods.

Nice first half of the game Pens. I think I see the bench waving a towel at 5-0 now.  :awesome_for_real:

I of course don’t believe in conspiracies or anything.

PP opportunities per game:

PHI   5.2
PIT   5.0
NSH   4.5
BUF   4.5
CHI   4.5
PHX   4.5
TBL   4.4
NYR   4.0
SJS   4.0
LAK   4.0
DET   3.8
ANA   3.7
WSH   3.2
MTL   3.2
BOS   3.0
VAN   2.7

Powerplay Time per game:

PHI   8:33:50
PIT   7:55:36
NSH   7:42:40
BUF   7:07:20
NYR   7:07:00
SJS   6:34:24
CHI   6:21:50
LAK   6:12:36
TBL   6:07:12
ANA   5:58:20
PHX   5:41:30
WSH   5:05:48
BOS   4:58:48
DET   4:58:00
MTL   4:26:36
VAN   3:48:10

The refs certainly swallowed their whistles last night. Not that I am bitter.


 :mob: :angryfist: :cry2: :argh: :facepalm: :cry: :sad_panda:

PHI capping the PP numbers seems...off, to me.

And then I went and looked at the numbers...Wow. Buffalo is very lucky that the Flyers' PP has been inept since the All-Star break.

Did we already do the census, or do we have time to change the numbers to account for the entire west coast committing ritual suicide when the Canucks blow it Tuesday?  :why_so_serious:

Are these in minutes:seconds:tenths?

So has there been a run on chairs and rope on the west coast?  :grin:

No Mass suicides this week!  :why_so_serious:

FUCK YOU CHICAGO!  MACE TO THE FACE!

Ok, I feel better now that I don't have to hide in a deep hole for being a Canucks fan. :heart:

Oh my fuckity fuck. I'm pretty sure we scared every old person in my building half to death last night.

I haven't been that stressed out in years. Yes, it's sad that a person would get that worked up over pro sports, but well... yea.
Congrats to Chicago for making it a hell of a nailbiter. I'm not afraid to admit that Crawford outplayed Luongo throughout the series.

Still trying to find a good shot of the lifesize Vince Vaughn cutout in a Canucks jerssey they had beside the penalty box last night. Awesomeness.

God that was stressful. More poor son jumped about 2 feet in the air when I yelled when Burrows scored. I didn't get to sleep until about 3:30AM from all the residual biochemicals racing around in my body. Consequently I am exhausted today, and quite cranky. I can't even imagine how I would feel if they hadn't managed to pull it out. I would probably be at a sporting goods store procuring a high powered rifle.

On to Round 2! I need to lay in a deep supply of alcohol to get through the next few weeks methinks.

For Bunk-
(http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/6083/unled1sys.jpg)

Awesome.

What Fleury will show up for Pens-Lightning game 7.

Since the Pens have proven that they are unable to score on the PP at all (I think they're like 1 for 30something), they'll need to keep TB to under 3.

Pfft, that's what sports are for.

Wow.  I'm apparently pretty bad at this pool.   :grin:

#winning  :awesome_for_real:

Quick turnaround on round 2 start -- get your picks in tonight, after game 7's after the 2 remaining series (Bos-Mon & Pit-TB) conclude or tomorrow before evening time Thursday -- schedule not out yet, but Round 2 begins Thursday night in Vancouver…

And I pray I am not cursing at Fleury tonight…

Fleury looked great.  The rest of the team looked a lot like a team with 2 of the very best players in the league, and 1/3 of its salary cap, sitting in the pressbox.  I was thrilled to see them get as far as they did.

Strangely calm about tonight. I am almost positive the Canucks are going to come out flat as a pancake, but I just don't see Nashville having the horses to get by them. All bets are off if Luongo is actually injured (as I have seen speculated), still has a playoff mental block, or if someone place fucking Chelsea Dagger within his earshot.

If they are still coming down from the emotions of game 7 the same way I am, then yea, expect them to be pretty flat.
I'm not quite sure about Luongo right now. He played great in the first couple games, then fell apart. Game 7, the Canucks carried most of the play, so it wasn't like he had to win them those games, he just had to play decently.

How many glove saves did he bobble off of the edge of his traper in game 7?  :uhrr:

Exactly. People have been speculating about a left arm/shoulder issue that might be slowing down or impairing the movement of his glove hand. It could actually be detached and flopping around on the ice independently and AV wouldn't mention it in his PCs  :awesome_for_real:

Yeah, they cannot pin loss (of game 7 or entire series) on him -- he played well enough for them to win the series -- when you go 1 for 36 on the PP and only put 2 goals in per game, it is amazing that the series went 7, or they were up 3-1 at one point.

My brother was bickering on FB how everytime Pens dumped the puck, forwards got interfered with… …to which I responded that it wouldn't make a difference if Pens got 3X the PP opportunities…

TB D-men (long reach/kept goal mouth clean too, handcuffed them) lots of shots, but most were easily swallowed up by Roloson who was good, but did not need to be that stellar… …Niskanen and Letestu suck, Kunitz & Kovalev were big busts, Neal needed to step game up, Conner flubbed a lot of great opportunities, Dupuis outlived his shelf life… …Staal, Letang played their hearts out…

6 on 4 for the last ~2 minutes of the game AT HOME and you can't generate a goal? I was sad. I really thought the Pens could afford to play without the kid and geno; I, however, was mistaken. Closed Melon with a game 7 loss, opened Consol with a game 7 loss...  :uhrr:

The fans at that game were a big bunch of fail - at least via the feed I had, that arena was SILENT the last 5 minutes of the game except for one short spurt. Way to get behind your team there, Pens fans.  :oh_i_see:

My guess is that they had no clue who was on the team without Sid and Geno.  :why_so_serious: 

How does Bruce Boudreau keep his job? I figured he would have been let go by lunch time today… …seriously, they almost let a Ranger squad that did not even merit a playoff bid back into the opening series, then just got steamrolled by the Lightning. After all the pundits, experts and high toted analysts crowed how the Capitals were going to smoke the Lightning. TB put on a clinic and I think Caps were just as feeble on special teams play as Pens were -- at least Pens had excuse that Gino and Sid were not suited up.

OTOH, TB 3rd line continued to shine -- 51 year old Downie, Bergenheim and Dominic Moore have been lighting the lamp equal and more consistent (TB #1 line only busted out 1 of the games v. Pit when Fleury lost his game and got toasted 8-2 or whatever it was) basis. Hedman play on D has been amazing and Eric Brewer, I never remember playing at the level he is -- I thought Ovechkin & Caps would be tougher test for them but instead, TB got the brooms out.

Canucks look like they're headed to conference finals. Would not count out Red Wings yet, though it appears  Sharks should prevail -- however, I would not be totally shocked if Detroit (or even Philly again) come back from 3-0.

No way Philly is coming back from 3-0. Goaltending is absolute garbage this year, as is the play of most of the team right now - JVR, Giroux, and sometimes Briere are the only bright spots. The top 4 dmen are playing decent, but they're getting crap for support from some of the forwards - I'm looking at YOU, Kris Versteeg, trying to make moves even at your own damn blue line and getting stripped or wrecked every time; you're just not that damn good.

I am busily trying to grow a uterus so  I can bear Ryan Kesler's children.

Get your picks in for round 3/4 before conference finals start Saturday!

The f13 standings, after completion of round 2:

(https://img.skitch.com/20110513-pqx9kjqrxb22bjssp93pjnhekj.png)

You guys are lucky I dropped Kesler after the first round!  :uhrr:

Flyers getting swept in ugly fashion really did a number on my score.  :uhrr:

I went all-in with TB/VAN. Probably the wrong decision with TB, but I really don't want Boston getting to the Finals.

Stay classy, Yahoo.

Yeesh, why the hell would they post that?

So people don't play a dead guy?

Holy shit, Marleau drops the gloves with Bieksa. He is lucky to be alive. As is Shooty Sedin after that cheap shot by Ben Eager, cunt. Score on the PP and let's bury these turds.

Best part of the game last night = NSFW (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xisd9r_canucks-vs-sharks-ben-eager-penalty-box_sport#from=embediframe)

I was watching CBC but was busy following the SA GDT on my phone and missed it live. Luckily the internet came through for me. I must say I have enjoyed all the Vancouver twins jokes today  :awesome_for_real:

Wow, and she didn't get instantly tossed?

Yeah every dude was waiting to throw out a hot chick who flashed her cans.

When I go to games seemingly half of security is women.

At least she was nice, though. That all went out live?

Shouldn't she be flashing her own team? Seems more supportive than heckling to show your tits.

Perhaps she thought Ben Eager was hot?

Though, I would think it would be better to flash someone who is both hot and actually skilled.  :oh_i_see:

Do any such players actually exist, and do they currently play? Hockey is not ... the handsomest of the professional sports.

Yes! And in the off-season, they go to their excellent dentists.

(http://nipponwaters.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/teeth.jpg?w=436&h=299)

STANLEY CUP FINALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real:

By far the oddest goal I think I've ever seen, but I'll take it. It's weird how "unprepared" I was to cheer. Normally, you build up to the potential of a goal being scored, even if it's just seeing that pass made to the open guy, or seeing a guy walk the line and wind up. This one though, was just stunned silence followed by "um, shit - we won!!!". (and a little dread that a linesman was going to pipe up and say it hit the netting...)

Yeah I was like WTH? Then Burrows started celebrating and grabbed the puck and I was like yay. I guess? Very strange moment. Only weirder goal I have seen was at a WHL game where a puck was cleared down the boards on a PK...the goalie moved over to cut it off, and it hit a stanchion and deflected right into the open net. Saw that one live  :awesome_for_real:

Wow, what a bizarre goal, even worse than the 2010 Cup winner. :uhrr:

Welp, go Canucks, go wreck you some Bruins/Bolts for me please.  :awesome_for_real:

Yay to possibly the stupidest schedule they could come up with for the finals.  :uhrr:

Finals start on Wednesday, then run Sat, Mon, Wed, Fri, Mon, Wed.

So we get one Saturday game for game 2, and a 3 out of 4 chance that the final game will be a Monday or Wednesday.

Oh, and all those games start at 5:00 PST (which is understandable since there will be an east coast team), but since they are all mid week, its going to be utter havok for anyone who works a normal shift to try to get to the games in Van.

Yeah that schedule is fucking clownshoes. Should have been Wed/Sat/Tues/Thurs/Sat or something. One Saturday out of 7 games is criminally stupid.

Isn't the UFC event in Vancouver taking over the 2nd Saturday spot? I think that's why there's just the one.

So you are saying it is ok to move SuperTramp but not UFC?  :awesome_for_real:

Winnipeg gets a team back.

http://www.driveto13.com/

YAY!  :drill:

But interesting question - since the Eastern Conference would lose a team (from their smallest division), would a Western Conference team have to swap over? Nashville or Columbus probably make the most sense - Detroit makes sense geographically as well, but that would be way more disruptive than one of the newer franchises moving over.

Nothing changes for next season, Team Winnipeg will play in the Southeast division (which makes them bringing back the 'Jets" name entirely fitting) and then they'll realign divisions. My bet is that Detroit moves over.

Wow, trips to Winnipeg for Eastern Conference teams are going to be ridiculous then, and I hope the Jets have a big travel budget.  :oh_i_see:

Sadly, they will be known as something else unless the Coyotes forfeit the naming rights they took with them when they left. Since the team still makes money off the Jets memorabilia, I doubt they will give it up unless they are feeling a bit generous and non-douchy. 

Since the league owns the Coyotes, it's probably not as big of a fight as it could be.

Oh I surely hope so. I became a huge Jets fan when Selanne joined the team and still have my faux-Jersey. I'd like to resurrect it at some point...

I assume if anything it would be Detroit. We've been lobbying for a switch for a long time now, anyways.

Why Detroit? That would seem to be the most disruptive to the balance of power and such.  And then which division do you put them in - certainly not the SE division. The NE division is the only one makes makes any sense, geographically. But then you need to bump someone over to the Atlantic (probably Boston   :uhrr:), and then pop someone from there over to the SE (either PIT or PHI, and that's a bad rivalry to break up).

Still think Nashville makes the most sense.

Detroit plays in the Eastern Time Zone, so that makes the most sense to me. Nashville is CST, isn't it? Just as happy to have them go bother the East for a few decades while we get to beat up in the ThrashJets.

Hmm, didn't know they played in EST, still... :uhrr:

Hurray for the Finals starting tonight! Sad that Manny had a setback and won't be playing, but excited for hockey and for the impeding demise of my horrifying playoff beard.

They moved my hockey team out of Atlanta today. So, it's put a damper on the Cup for me now.

Sorry dude, though Canada does give Atlanta props for continuing to supply us with ready made teams. (for those not aware, the Calgary Flames originated as the Atlanta Flames)

Yep, and that one hurt my parents who knew Bill Clement when he played for us. They left the year before I was born. Now, I get my own personal kick in the balls. The franchise lost it's way when Danny Heatley killed his best friend in that car wreck. It was never the same after that.

All in all, I'm rooting for the Canucks in this series. It's been a long time since a Candian team had a shot. Also, Boston has had enough championships this decade. Fuck those guys.

Too bad they couldn't have moved the Florida Panthers instead. Why the fuck does the NHL have two teams in Florida again? At least one of them has won a Cup and come close more than one season.

Same reason there is a team in the god damn desert.

You mean two in the desert?

If you mean Dallas... I don't really count that as a desert, but I guess technically..  :oh_i_see:

Maybe he meant L.A.? (which is not really in the desert either)

I meant Dallas, yeah. LA/Anaheim were weird choices as well, but at least those three seem to have worked out.

If you think Dallas is in a desert, you're way off.

Do you mean to tell me that it's not, because that'd be news to me.

Dallas is not in the desert. At all.

It has an average annual rainfall of 34 inches. To be considered a desert you need to have an average of 10 inches or less.

Um, I had assumed he meant Glendale, er Pheonix.

Dallas is many things. Completely paved over, full of metropolitan Texans who want to act like they are better than the rest of the state, home to hundreds of great Tex/Mex and steakhouse restaurants, and holding tank for one of the most popular sport franchises in the United States.

It has, however, a humid subtropical climate. Not a desert.

So was the game as boring as it sounds? I was at the Braves game because I got free tickets, so I didn't get to see it.

I mean outside the final goal which was a good ending, most of the game sounds like a slog.

The first 30 minutes or so were terrible with all the penalties, then it settled down a bit. Tim Thomas was ridiculously good, and Luongo was very good as well (didn't have to save quite as many OMG sure goals as TT did). Last 25 seconds were my favorite  :grin:

Lots of hockey crazed fans in the desert, and in California and Florida too.

Although the Panthers may not work out either. But at least one Florida team can fly.

Even in Phoenix, Coyotes have done a horrendous job of marketing hockey and the franchise (not helped at all by the past dubious ownership and present unstable condition). Still, there is a large contingent of transplants and even native and California refugees that flock to the games -- the move to the far west corridor of the metro area was another wedge in fan loyalty -- while it is just a few clicks down the 101 for me, folks commuting from N. Scottsdale have a wretched journey on a weeknight. Also, Coyotes & NHL did poor job of capitalizing on roller hockey craze in 90s which at one point, nearly evoked a outside rink (and a few indoor ones) on just about every block. NHL, if it really wanted to promote hockey in the Sun Belt, should have poured money into this (as well as pro roller hockey league).

The bottom line is people who play hockey become hockey fanatics. It is almost impossible not to.

I fully agree on the roller hockey thing. I think they managed to use it to fair success in California, but that was about it. I miss the Vancouver Voodoo, it was actually pretty entertaining.

Hockey is admittedly a tough sport to get into if you never played some form of it, or grew up in a hockey culture. Being unable to half fill a building when you are offering seats for the same price as a movie ticket is just baffling to me. Ticket prices on Canucks seats go up as high as $200 for regular season, mid week, in the stands. We've sold out every game for something like six consecutive seasons.

Vancouver fans will love this story.

http://deadspin.com/5807325/the-canucks-fan-who-drove-1000-miles-for-a-game-partied-with-the-owner-drank-with-beautiful-women-nearly-died-and-got-comped-for-game-5 (http://deadspin.com/5807325/the-canucks-fan-who-drove-1000-miles-for-a-game-partied-with-the-owner-drank-with-beautiful-women-nearly-died-and-got-comped-for-game-5)

Wow Charra, way to act like a total chump in OT.

Nice job Canucks!

Not to derail the Canuck train, but I just read on ESPN that Winnipeg sold all 13,000 season tickets in less than 20 minutes (http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=6625982) for the former Atlanta team.

And the lazy stick check strikes again!  :grin:

And good on Winnipeg - Atlanta was always such a waste of a franchise.

 :heart: :awesome_for_real: :grin: :drill: :drillf: :why_so_serious:

Dude, fuck that. Winnipeg couldn't hold a team, and they won't be able to hold this one either if they have the same problems we did. The owners fucked this city. The fans showed up every year when we got the team, and had better attendance than great sports towns like Chicago back when things were starting up. Then, the strike happened, and the owners tried to unload the team, they stopped putting money in it. They stopped trying to make it a success. They sold off every bit of payroll they could, and they still lost $130M because they were idiots.

You wanna talk about a bandwagon town? Look at Chicago. Last 3 years when the team was good, fans showed up and made it #1 in attendance. Before that, bottom 5. However, like the shitty NY Islanders, who draw even less than the Thrashers ever did, the NHL likes them. The NHL wasn't going to get $60M for itself by having those teams move. So yeah, take that attitude and shove it up your ass. You don't know anything about sports teams down here, as fully evidenced by your extensive knowledge that Dallas is a desert.  :oh_i_see:

That just shows I don't know much about Dallas as a region, not the team. :why_so_serious:

And a big problem for ALL of the Canadian teams in the mid-late 90s was the atrocious exchange rate. At least right now, that doesn't seem like it will be a problem.

I'll totally agree with you on the bandwagons like Chicago, though I think the Penguins may be more egregious - team sucked balls for a number of years and nearly had to be sold and moved, and they were saved by a fortuitous streak of strong drafts where they had extremely high picks. Same can be said of Washington before Ovechkin showed up - this is only the first time they've made it out of the first round in 12 seasons, second in 16.

On Atlanta, I'm not saying it's the fans' fault per-se - I thought Atlanta was a very odd place to try to put a hockey franchise (for the second time) back when the league expanded back into that market.

It would have worked fine if the strike hadn't shot the sport in the head for everyone below the Mason-Dixon.

Actually, it was apparently about two minutes to sell out, and 15 minutes to process the transactions. Oh, and that's 13,000 tickets for 3 - 5 years, not just the first year. Plus 8000 people paying a $50 deposit to go on the waiting list.

Yeah, I read that. But saying 'less than 20 minutes' keeps me safe from the "BUT SOME PEOPLE TOOK 17 MINUTES" spergy types.

Atlanta did fine for 5 years as well. Of course, Winnipeg will be successful for the reason that Atlanta wasn't. They have owners who actually want to support hockey and are willing to frontload the expenses to make a team good.

OTOH, if the franchise continues to act the way it has and only makes the playoffs once in a decade, we can discuss how many tickets they are selling at that point.

They also have the advantage of having an owner who could lose $50 million a year and not notice. The biggest problem Winterpeg will have is the same one that Edmonton has - free agents don't want to move there. Fortunately, we Canadians tend to love hockey enough to support it, even when it sucks.

I heard about the brutal hit on the radio and came into it expecting something else. I saw the hit on Horton, and was horribly confused.

I was expecting Claude Lemeiux. I got Andy Sutton.

It was late, but not nearly as late as others I have seen. Offensive guy wasn't protecting himself, and the worst possible result occurred. It was really scary watching live... the camera zoomed in on his face, and his eyes were glassy and he was blowing spit bubbles in his mouth. I was worried he might actually be dying at first.

I am not sure how I feel about the suspension...I think 2 games would have been enough, but 4 is ok. I will say this- I am goddamned sick and fucking tired of all the Boston fans crying about it when their Slovakian hero did something far worse to Pacioretty and wasn't suspended at all. Get the fuck off your high horses, you cuntbags.

Boston fans will cry about anything. It doesn't matter that they've won in basketball, baseball, and football within the last decade.

Yea, the actual hit itself was pretty much a textbook bodycheck. It was a little late, and it deserved a penalty. He got five and the game because Horton hit his head on the ice. He hit his head because he skated across the blue line looking back at his pass, instead of where he was going. Really, Rome only had to move about five feet to his right to make the hit - it wasn't like he zoomed in from out of nowhere. He didn't charge in to him, he didn't crosscheck him, he didn't catch him from behind, and he didn't make contact with his head. He stood him up at the blue line - about 0.3 seconds later than he should have.

He got a suspension because the league believes in double standards. If Horton doesn't hit his head on the way down, that was a two minute interference call. He got a four game suspension because the other player wasn't watching where he was going. And becuase this is the finals, everyone is watching, and the league doesn't want:

a) to look bad for not disciplining someone when the play almost killed the other guy
b) to have to deal with the shit that would go down if Rome played in the next game (I think this is really the main reason for the suspension)

The NHL can't afford bad press. It's already playing 2 of it's final games on an upstart cable network.

What Torres did was worse imo, but he missed. Down by a large amount, late in game, elbow high at the head from a guy with a bit of a history of headshots.

^^^^^
Agreed on all counts.

This actually just gets worse and worse. So now the guy who handed out the suspension has admitted that other than being late, it was a clean hit. A late hit is called interference - it's a two minute penalty. This became a five minute penalty, game misconduct, four game suspension, because the other player got hurt.

If that is to be the standard, then you have to give out a suspension on any penalty that results in injury. Any penalty, because again, this was a generic two minute call in any other circumstance.

Bonus fun - the guy handing out the suspension also admits to consulting with various people about it before making the decision. Including Brian Burke, former GM of the Canucks, who was fired by the Canucks. Who is from Boston. Yea, no bias there...

I don't agree with the suspension at all, but that's the breaks for a guy who's going to be made a martyr for the sport.

As I said when I saw it, I didn't see the brutality of the hit. Dude had the puck, he passed the puck, and he didn't keep his head up over the middle. That's shit they teach you in the youth league.

Agree with all of the above - it was a clean hit, an ok interference call at best. It's not Rome's job to protect Horton - that's Horton's job. Someone taking the body should not be punished because the guy they're hitting is busy being mesmerized by his own pass. Hell, it wasn't even really a blind-side hit, unless you count straight-on hits to be blindside if you're busy looking over your shoulder and not at what's in front of you.

AND...fuck Boston fans. Seriously. The times I've been forced to listen to their TV/Radio broadcasts have been absolutely painful.

So, Canucks...WTF?  :oh_i_see:

One word... Luongo. But really, I think the Canucks just automagically curse any goalkeeper that reaches the playoffs in the crease for them.

Cam Neely night - 8 goals.
Bobby Orr night - 4 goals.

Marchand was a one-man annoying, wrecking crew. That sequence at the end where he tackled Erhoff, flipped Sedin when Sedin tried to run him and dropped the gloves all in one smooth transition to another was awesome.

Plus Timmy Thomas is gonna cut a bitch.

(http://i55.tinypic.com/t8qhac.jpg)

So...was that a penalty?

Uh yeah, that's a slash. He got 2m at the end of the game, served by someone else.

Totally worth it.

Timmah took offense to having his stick whacked on by Burrows a few seconds earlier so this wasn't an unabashed Hextall moment.

Still very  :why_so_serious:

God NHL refs are fucking terrible.

To be fair, I challenge you to point to a sport where the refs are "good."  :why_so_serious:

NHL chased out all the vets the past few years, and it hasn't improved things. I almost miss Mick McGeough.

I couldn't stand him, but I miss Kerry Fraser.

I stayed away from reading any threads unitl after game five, because I really didn't want to know what people thought of game four. While I'll admit Luongo gave up a couple softies in four, I knew the calls for his head would just drive me nuts. Yea, guess a shutout in game five was the best way to answer those critics.

Now, do I actually hold out hope that we can win one in Boston, and go full out for viewing/celebration plans for game six, or do I just wait for game seven...

No, make the plans for Game 6 you sissy. :why_so_serious:

I believe Horton is left handed, which made the hit worse. If he'd been a right hand shooter he would've taken the hit across his body and stick, and possibly not been as unaware as he was. It was a late hit no question and penalty worthy but wasn't intended to hurt, just bad circumstances.

Canucks will lose bad tomorrow night and win 3-2 in OT in Vancouver in Game 7. My city will then get lit on fire, I will have to flee and spend the next week eating raw squirrels in Stanley Park.

If they go into overtime in Game 7 I will die. Game 7 in the first round was nearly fatal.

Yea, I really don't need the stress, so I'm banking on them winning tonight. We have a table reserved in the Central City Brew pub, which is cool, because the pub opens right on to the plaza where they have the big screen up in Surrey. So once we win, I can just spill outside in to the celebration.

I think my biggest emotion will be relief, both at winning and finally getting rid of my goddamned playoff beard. I look fucking ridiculous. I keep forgetting about it and then catching a glimpse of myself in reflections.  :ye_gods:

Also, this made me ROFL-

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6zvb6loQK58/TfN-m1aGkEI/AAAAAAAAGLY/dJC_pGLnkxs/s1600/318779654.png)

Please telll me you're at least shaving your neck.

Blasphemy! My goatee is now about three inches long, and has migrated down to about my adam's apple. The worst part is how patchy my beard grows on the sides, its about twice as thick on the left cheek as my right. Oh, and my mustache is long enough for me to curl up the ends now if I want.

I've also not been cutting my hair, just in case. I have friends insisting that I cut my hair the moment the playoffs end. It's just about five inches long now in the back, and a crazy wavy mess.

I'm not wierd or anything. Really.

And anger the hockey gods? Surely you jest. Unlike Bunk, I am still cutting my hair. Well, shaving my head. If i had a head of hair when I started I would have let it grow though.

So basically you look like your avatar.

Yeah, I almost actually posted that.

Was supposed to be out of work 10 minutes ago, but got some last minute emergency stuff that is delaying me. Might end up listening to the first period on the radio  :heartbreak: Nauseous and jittery as hell. ONE TIME, SPORTS GODS.

Please to be stepping on the Bruins' throats tonight, kthx!

Didn't take 5 minutes for Luongo to already botch it.

EDIT: And 7 minutes to REALLY screw it up. Take him out now.

EDIT #2: Too late, they didn't listen. 3-0 now in the first 9 minutes. Bad coaching, bad penalty, bad mental mistakes. See you in Game 7. This could get really ugly before it's over if the refs don't get involved.

EDIT #3: 4-0 in 10 minutes. Vancouver fans everywhere should turn off the TV now. At least that wasn't a bad goal.

I sure as shit turned mine off... :uhrr:

wow... I barely got espn radio on and it was 2 nothing. Now 4? Well, at least they still have two periods left

Won't matter. They look braindead. And Thomas has already made two saves standing on his head.

Luongo is a 5 year old girl mentally. So soft. So sick of it.

Good thing Vancouver had home ice advantage for the series…

Of course, anything can happen in a game 7 (not to rule out a game 6 miraculous comeback, but that appears highly improbable at this juncture)…

I could not possibly be any happier with the result tonight.

"Fact: If you look up "absolute worst case scenario" in the dictionary, the book will fly out of your hand and beat Roberto Luongo top shelf."

It's called "drama"  :awesome_for_real:

Oh, and congrats to Boychuk for figuring out how to hit a guy hard enough in to the boards to break his back, and have it labeled "a hockey play gone wrong".

Chara started that.

I heard it on the radio when it happened...went back and watched my TiVo of the CBC broadcast to see how it happened. It seemed more like bad luck than anything else. MayRay was one of the few bright spots recently; this really sucks.

Oh and I will be pacing around my office all damned day. And maybe vomiting.

The problem I had with it, was that Boychuk finished his check by riding Raymond in to the boards - while Raymond was in a vulnerable position. He wasn't pinning him to the boards to keep Raymond away from the puck, the puck had already been picked up by another Canuck twenty feet away and passed across the ice before they actually hit the boards.

They are calling it "bad luck" because Raymond was facing away from the boards. Had Raymond been facing towards the boards, it would have been an automatic ejection. But since you almost never see a player get hit while effectively touching his toes, nothing in the rule book covers it. Thus, it's not dirty, just unlucky - according to the league.

And now I will drop it, becuase I'm starting to sound like I'm whining and making excuses. If I were to do that I would bring up things like the Bruins now having two deffencemen still in the playoffs, even though they both severely injured other players with late hits.

Should be a hell of a game.

Canucks win 2-1 tonight. Calling it now.

God I hope so. As long as they are up 2-0 and Boston scores at 19:59 of the 3rd period, I might live to see the end of the game. I should probably stop for beer on the way home. And drink a couple on the way.

I think it's going to OT 1-1 before the Nucks win it.

In the 3rd OT!  :awesome_for_real:

I'd like to see Vancouver win, but IMO the fact that they're winning close games but getting blown out in the losses doesn't bode well.

It's bad when I'm having to sit down at work and do yogic breathing exercises three hours before the game even starts.

GO CANUCKS

I was stuck in the car when game 6 started (had to drop a rush project off for work at Fed Ex- had planned to be home by then). I was getting so keyed up that I ran across the street from Fed Ex into a bar, saw the 4 goals, drank 3 beers, and left my credit card there (after paying my tab!). The beers calmed me down enough that I didn't drive off the road.

It all hinges on Luongo and where his mind is at. You should be able to tell pretty quickly how the game is going to go.

He is going to be solid at home.

Should we keep the paramedics on hold for our Vancouver friends?  :why_so_serious:

So just tuned in during the first intermission...

I am not pleased, sirs.  :oh_i_see:

NEXT!  :why_so_serious:

Wait, that's not the Pens out there in black and white and gold? FFFFFUUUUUUUU!!!  :oh_i_see:

Wow, this game is descending into total Boston bullshit.  :uhrr:

Crashing into the goalie is a legal way to score goals now?

Fuck, I am so sick of Boston sports. Even before the shorthanded goal it looked bad, with Thomas making lucky saves (or getting miraculous support).

Don't be bitter.

Too late. :argh:

Fuck it, stick a fork in these bitches.

Yeah, they're not generating enough chances, and not cashing in on the few they've had. :oh_i_see:

Better goaltender wins the Cup. It just doesn't fail. Oh well.

Better luck next year Vancouver peeps.

I'm not sure if it was more a matter of Thomas being that good, or Vancouver coming up small.

Oh well.  :oh_i_see:

Thomas was good, Vancouver was average, and Luongo will have to move towns.

Vancouver just gave up again.

Vancouver came up small.

And I still hate Gary Bettman and his fucking Napoleon complex.

At least Boston was quick about getting to the handshake line - I remember Chicago taking what seemed like forever to get over themselves and shake hands so the Flyers could leave the ice.

Congrats I guess...now we can look forward to the draft and free agency, amirite?  :oh_i_see:

Yeah. That and Luongo walking away from Vancouver to this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUWgE0EVQ9c

Ahahahaha. That's all I have to say. If the hockey gods wont even permit us Leaf Fans one playoff game, then I'm glad they deprived Canucks fans of the cup. Luongo has to be the most overrated goalie currently playing.

This is when I knew the Bruins would win.  :why_so_serious:

And now, the vancouver riots (http://seattle.sbnation.com/vancouver-canucks/2011/6/15/2226393/vancouver-riots-canucks-bruins-stanley-cup-finals-burning-car)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSZ4y1X83oI

The only word that I can think of to fit the Canucks losing: Lame.

Way to set the city on fire, you hosers.

Someone checking on WayAbv? Absent the whole page since the 7th game.  :ye_gods:

My guess is he's in a ditch drunk and won't emerge until next Monday.

I am too numb to really contribute anything. What a gutless performance.

I'll buck the trend by actually standing up for them a bit. Luongo didn't make the miracle saves needed to win, but he didn't let in any beachballs like he did in game 6.
- first one went through six legs and off the post and in, Luongo never saw it
- wraparound, he was tangled with his own guy and still made the first save, it bounced in off of him after that
- breakaway (which was a result of a fluke bounce in the first place) was going in no matter what, with two bodies carrying it in to the net

They lost on three things in my book:
 - couldn't bury chances the whole series, just way too many open nets missed, shots fired wide, etc. Thomas was in their heads.
 - attrition. By game 7 we were down two top 6 forwards and two top 6 defense, and the guys we had were walking wounded. Boston had injuries too, but it appeared the 'nucks were in worse condition.
 - "let em play hockey" I don't want refs to decide the cup, but that game was 1970's level muck and grind hockey, which will always be an advantage to the bigger, slower team (Bruins). Call the damn game the same way all year.

Boston earned it fair and square. I have no issue with them. Congrats, we'll get you next year.

The league however gets a big fuck you for letting it turn in to 70's hockey.

The league gets a second fuck you for suspending a player based on the severity of an injury and not wanting to have to deal with the reprecussions of Boston going after him if they let him play again. That "severe concussion"? He was on a plane flying cross continent a few days later, and out skating with his team after a week.

Finally, the Boston fans get a big fuck you for acting like jackasses while Raymond was being taken off the ice with an injury. You want to bad mouth my team and city, go ahead - at least we had the class to be respectful when Horton got hurt.


Hey, it's Summer!

(http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmwadqkQuy1qzvv56o1_500.jpg)

 :awesome_for_real:

Shop.. everyone knows asians don't riot.  :why_so_serious:

Take a little solace in your win here:

(https://img.skitch.com/20110617-ngsgpt4ksjdihsxsek5ak3qp9.png)

2012 PREDICTION: MAPLE LEAFS WIN STANLEY CUP!

:grin:

Flyers.  :ye_gods:

Hey, just you wait and see how it all pans out after we hang our hopes on yet another goaltender.  :oh_i_see:

"Boston goals: Slot one-timer; Wraparound where goalie is run over; Push goalie into net on breakaway. This game is brought to you by NHL 94. Fourth goal will come when they go fivehole with the pass button from the red line."

Wanted the Canucks to win it, but I find it very hard to dislike this guy:

(http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s13/specialj99/alg_tim-thomas-stanley-cup.jpg)


Once upon a time my favourite team had two supposedly elite defensemen, but they could only keep one.  The one they kept is out of the league (Wade Redden) the one they let go just captained his team to the Stanley Cup.   :heartbreak:


Edit:  More riot pics.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/06/16/photos-riots-fire-destruction-after-vancouvers-loss/ (http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/06/16/photos-riots-fire-destruction-after-vancouvers-loss/)

What kind of asshole goes to a riot but censors his sign?

I used to like and respect TT. After watching him for 7 games, that is no longer the case. Cheap shots, shooting the puck into the Vancouver net during warmups, and general smugness. Fuck him.

For what it's worth, that shit seemed to work to get into the heads of the Canucks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rurteaH_UkU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rurteaH_UkU)

Bit of NSFW language at the end. Mob trying to burn a truck, random guy has enough an tries to hold them off.

My new hero.

(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/44058/punch.jpg)

Did he just give him the John Wayne hook punch?

I think I saw that on the cover of a Streetfighter game.

I just said "fuck yea" a little too loud at work when I saw that picture.

They had the same guy (in a non punching pose) on the cover of the Sunday paper this weekend. Nice to see them try puting the spotlight on the good guys of this mess.