Fantasy Hockey, '07-'08

[murdoc]

How the hell did... Nashville get in the playoffs?

Canucks. CHOKED.

[WayAbvPar]

Montreal in 5
Ottawa in 7
Washington in 6
New York in 5

Detroit in 5
San Jose in 5
Colorado in 6 (if Forsberg's pussy doesn't hurt too badly)
Dallas in 7

[naum]

Montreal over Boston — I still scratch my head over how Montreal finished #1 in conference. I think Cinderella turns into a pumpkin, but not before dispensing with Boston, though I love watching Chara play…

Pittsburgh over Ottawa — Pens got punked by Sens in playoffs last year, but this year, Pens hungrier, not content to just be there, have 2+ bonafide scoring lines and meanwhile, Sens coasted into playoffs…

Washington over Philadelphia — going to be a 7 game affair, but Washington has too much for Flyers

Detroit over Nashville — Goaltending is going to be an issue for Red Wings in this SC tourney, but they should be able to dispense with Nashville rather effortlessly…

San Jose over Calgary — closest matchup in opening round IMV, Kiprusoff might be able to steal for Flames, but SJ will prove too tough

Minnesota over Colorado — because the Wild are the better coached team

Anaheim over Dallas — Pronger might still be a tad rusty from his suspension, but other Ducks got plenty of rest during first half of season, and seem to be rounding into top form, I look for them to repeat as champions this SC

[cmlancas]

How the hell did... Nashville get in the playoffs?

Canucks. CHOKED.

Are both of you surprised? 

[murdoc]

Hey, how'd Tampa do?

[cmlancas]

You went there, didn't you. Like you're not a TB fan, you traitorous bastard!

Just wait until next year. 

[Azaroth]

Go go Steve Stamkos?

Nobody will say it, but the most mediocre first overall in... ten years?

Okay, nine. Patrick Stefan? As I look at that draft though, you have to forgive Atlanta... that was kind of a hilariously shitty draft.

[murdoc]

but, but but... that's when the Canucks got the Sisters!

[Strazos]

IMO Washington doesn't have enough vs PHL. Sure, they have Ovechkin. His presence cannot be overstated, BUT....weak defense, questionable goaltending, and lack of depth beyond him. Don't give me a spiel about Huet's record in the past 12....Southeast division = lulz. Basement dwelling TB and ATL and FLA, and a faltering CAR....Washing getting in was practically a gimme.

Flyers should be fine if they decide to play defense.

And I really hope PIT get slapped about by Ottawa; what they did in the finale was disgraceful. Is little Crosby that scared of the Flyers? It's not like they get called for half the shit they pull.

[Phildo]

Let's go Pens!  In your face, Strazos!   

[Azaroth]

Makes me lewl when fans of the dirtiest team in the league constantly blame the refs when they lose. Yeah, you guys end up in the penalty box for nothing every single game. And they refs are ALWAYS in favour of the opposing team. Because they have crybaby Crosby! Or that commie Ovechkin! Jagr is a pussy, refs protect him! Our clowns like Hartnell and Downey aren't allowed to headhunt NEARLY enough!

Philly fans are good for regular lulz. I'm not sure if I like them better than Leafs fans, but it's a close heat. If only because Leafs fans have the advantage of pure stupid on their side.
 
As far as Washington, their division IS a complete fucking joke. Great for Ovechkin's point total and all, but I'd like to see how many he'd get if he played in Thornton's, Iginla's, or Malkin's divisions. WSH definitely wouldn't be in the playoffs, that's for sure.

[naum]

Good start for Pens! Let's see if they can carry that into Game #2 and beyond… …they got a SC caliber squad, but I wonder if Fleury if SC caliber goalie…

Take back what I said about Zdeno Chara — he looked like a lumbering dolt against Habs… …dude, you're 7 foot monster, no opposing forward should be able get anywhere near crease or not have to pay with bonecrushing hit when gaining puck past goal line… …even if it means taking a call or two… …inflicting some pain will make those zippy forwards have to always tilt their heads to see where you're at… …it's playoff time…

Detroit obliterates Nashville, outshooting them 40-20… …might be 4 game sweep…

Didn't get to see Dallas waste Anaheim, which is a big shock to me, nor did I catch much of tonight's Calgary v. San Jose, where Sharks evened up series…

I love NHL channel, though… …it's about time, it only took them until 2007-2008 to get where the NFL & NBA have been for nearly a decade…

[murdoc]

Dallas got all 4 goals on the powerplay, and Calgary took 7 penalties in a row in the 2nd, and were outshot something like 23-3 in that period.  Plus, Nabokov made two UNREAL glovehand saves. On the last one he robbed Nolan so bad that even the announcers were saying 'SCORES!' until they realize the puck was actually in Nabokov's hand.
Score should have been about 5-2 for the Sharks, but both Goalies were awesome. I'll take the split in San Jose though :)

Montreal made Boston look as bad as I thought they were, same with the Pens against the Sens. Gary Roberts > Ottawa Senators.

[Phildo]

It's good to see Roberts back.  I was at the game where he went down and from the way it looked I thought it might have been career-ending.

[Azaroth]

It's good to see Roberts back.  I was at the game where he went down and from the way it looked I thought it might have been career-ending.

Dude, have you seen that injury in slow motion? It's fucking nasty...

[Strazos]

Makes me lewl when fans of the dirtiest team in the league constantly blame the refs when they lose. Yeah, you guys end up in the penalty box for nothing every single game. And they refs are ALWAYS in favour of the opposing team. Because they have crybaby Crosby! Or that commie Ovechkin! Jagr is a pussy, refs protect him! Our clowns like Hartnell and Downey aren't allowed to headhunt NEARLY enough!

Good thing that's not what I said. Do I really need to bring up specifics, such as when Crosby crumpled over when Smith leaned his stick on Crosby's? Or Gonchar blatently buttending Hartnell? Or anything Ruutu does? Or Crosby taking fully-gloved swings at people, and not getting called? Or that little shit Orpik, not wanting to defend himself after yet Another "questionable" play?

Oh, and they still completely threw that game.

[Azaroth]

Good thing that's not what I said. Do I really need to bring up specifics, such as when Crosby crumpled over when Smith leaned his stick on Crosby's? Or Gonchar blatently buttending Hartnell? Or anything Ruutu does? Or Crosby taking fully-gloved swings at people, and not getting called? Or that little shit Orpik, not wanting to defend himself after yet Another "questionable" play?

Oh, and they still completely threw that game.

Haha, if I were you I'd worry about Washington. Looks like your boys might be exiting stage left in the first round.

And of course they threw that game... who wants to play a team of no talent goons in the first round when someone else can take care of them?

[murdoc]

[HaemishM]

Ow. 

[MrHat]

For reals.  Hell of a check.  I caught a bit of the av's game last night and it made me remember why I love playoff hockey.  So, after a 3-4 year hiatus of hockey watching, I'm hoping the Avs (I'm an unfortunate CO. sports fan, we always lose in the end) series goes to game 6 so I can catch it on my big screen this weekend.

Also, lol @ forsburg. 

[murdoc]

That check is the reason the Flames are up 2-1. They were dead in the water at that point of the game and the fans were completely out of it. With one hit, and the fact that San Jose ended up with the penalty afterwards, lead to the big comeback.

[HaemishM]

For reals.  Hell of a check.  I caught a bit of the av's game last night and it made me remember why I love playoff hockey.  So, after a 3-4 year hiatus of hockey watching, I'm hoping the Avs (I'm an unfortunate CO. sports fan, we always lose in the end) series goes to game 6 so I can catch it on my big screen this weekend.

Also, lol @ forsburg. 

Yeah, he took a nice little tackle in the first period, then got facewashed. Made even more awesome by the fact that the Wild won.

GO WILD!

[MrHat]

You guys see Avery get 'creative' in front of the goal.  Cracked me the fuck up.

[Azaroth]

First team in the second round: Penguins.

I'm actually hoping that...




... K just had to go back and look at MrHats avatar again for a second..

.. I'm actually hoping that Boston beats Montreal at this point because of the way they got totally jobbed by the Refs in game two. I've never seen anything like that. They were on a constant penalty kill in a tied game from 10 minutes left in the third, all the way until they lost in overtime. Including two 5 on 3s. I was watching that wondering how much mafia money was on the game. Quite lame.

I loved the Nashville win the other night and hope they win their series, too. Detroit is boring, anyway. I also hope Washington loses. I'm so fucking sick of the way everyone constantly jerks off over Ovechkin.

[WayAbvPar]

Nonis out as GM of the Canucks. Wow. I thought they would give him one more year, especially since he A) finally had some expiring contracts and thus some salary cap to work with, and B) was in the middle of negotiating the Brunnstrom deal. Missing the playoffs 2 out of 3 years in a Canadian city is absolutely death, however, so it is not surprising- who wants to be the Leafs West? 

I really hope the new GM shitcans Vigneault. His style of hockey is unbelievably boring to watch. Dump and chase, neutral zone trap, and hope like hell your world class goalie never has an off night, since your style robs the team of any scoring chances or flourish.

[Azaroth]

Look.. you play a defensive system and your entire top six is out the whole fucking season. You're going to lose.

Firing Nonis was ridiculous. And if you saw any of the press conference, it was clear that Aquilini just didn't like him.

Canucks were a playoff team had they remained even relatively healthy. Not Nonis's fault that Naslund is ass these days, either. You've got a great goalie, pretty good defense when healthy... Bruunstrom coming along, and cap room.

Seems like a pretty decent situation to me.

[murdoc]

Yeah, I don't get firing Nonis either. There had to be some personality conflicts in there somewhere.

[WayAbvPar]

I don't think another soft Swede is going to help the Canucks any. They need a center who can win some faceoffs and score, and a couple of wingers, at least one of who can beat the shit out of 99.99% of the league. They got pushed around WAY too much this year. All the injuries didn't help, but they were totally at Luongo's mercy all year. If he was hot, they had a shot. If he was average or worse, they were sunk.

I haven't see the press conference, but everything I have heard about it makes it sound like the owner is a raving douchebag. Great. Now they ARE the Leafs West.

[Strazos]

Ovechkin's dive was pretty sad....WSH as a whole is getting really frustrated, even as the refs are giving them a bit of help;

No call on drilling Timonen after the play? Seriously?

[Azaroth]

I haven't see the press conference, but everything I have heard about it makes it sound like the owner is a raving douchebag. Great. Now they ARE the Leafs West.

How many super rich guys from super rich families have you seen that aren't raving douchebags?

[murdoc]

Got tickets to the Flames game last night. Chanting and cheering started a bit before they took the ice for the warm-up and didn't really stop until the second period where the Flames went to shit. Getting outshot 32-10 at home is NOT how you win a playoff game, even if they lucked out and came close. It was too bad, since the first period was pretty good and the crowd was still really into it, but a really bad 2nd took almost all the life out of it.

Still pretty darn awesome to look out and see nothing but red. My voice is shot today and my ears are still ringing.

[MrHat]

Damn dude, that's awesome.  How much those tickets cost you? I could never find any playoff tickets in Denver.  Fuckers are sold out constantly.

[murdoc]

They were pretty cheap ($40), because they were in the nosebleeds waaay up top. Rush seating too, so you have to be there about 2 hrs before gametime. You have to go to Sportchek and enter a draw to have the opportunity to buy 2 of the 900 tickets released. My Dad entered while he was waiting for my Mom to get out of the dentist and they called him on Monday :) Haven't been to a game with the old man since the late 80's.

Bad seats, amazing atmosphere. The diehards are usually the crew up top where we sat and they were going nuts for a good chunk of the game.

[cmlancas]

Not that TB is in the playoffs this year, but tickets down here are near impossible to get. 

[murdoc]

Not looking hard enough, since they only average 94% ticket sales. :p