Hockey Talk: The Official NHL 2008-2009 Thread - Page 16

Re: Hockey Talk: The Official NHL 2008-2009 Thread

Even if the Wings win...


(please, please, please, please, please,)


...I'll still feel a bit sad because it's over.


Jon

Re: Hockey Talk: The Official NHL 2008-2009 Thread

I'm with Bob's "ugh" on this one. I don't think I could take it. Wait, I'll take whatever has the Wings hoisting the cup.

Randy I understand being nervous. I think it happens to most sports fans with a strong loyalty to a team. I know it has no real impact on my life (I mean it might be the difference between picking up a new t-shirt or not), but I still get wound up.

One of the things that has helped me remain calm watching this series was that I just had knee surgery and I was watching the games strapped into a continuous passive movement machine. It was much easier to stay relaxed.

I'm a little concerned about tonight since the machine is now gone and I sometimes watch the big games like Jon and Randy were describing earlier. My knee might not be ready for it yet.

Regardless of the outcome it has been a great year for both teams and I'll miss the hockey.

Now, one more thing:

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

Re: Hockey Talk: The Official NHL 2008-2009 Thread

End of second period, Wings are down 2-0.

I have a sinking, nauseating feeling that this is the year of the Penguin.

Jon

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Don't give up yet Jon. A lot can happen in 20 minutes.

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Great game. Great finish. The team I was left rooting for won. Next year is Buffalos turn!

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Congratulations to Penguins fans! That was a good game to watch for me. I hadn't realized that the Pens were that good in game sevens on the road.

I was most impressed with the Penguins' ability to kill off Detroit power plays tonight. I also predicted that the team that won game four would win this series. The Pens showed a lot of guts out there tonight. When they lost Crosby for a good portion of the game, I thought for sure that the Red Wings were going to tie this game up.

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Right now it is very tangible for me just how long 17 years is. When I think back on where I was the last time the Pens won the Cup and I had this feeling, I realize just how much time has gone by.

It is tough on a die-hard fan when you realize your team is up two goals late in the second period of the ultimate game and you recognize that they are content to win 2-0 or 2-1. Jeez, did the Pens even have a shot on goal in the third period? That aside, I'm a very happy man tonight.

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This is something that has crossed my mind frequently over the past ten or so years. It's going on thirty-eight years for my team. I too remember what I was doing when they last won the Cup (1972). One of those things was playing street hockey -- which was all the rage in Boston and it suburbs when Orr and the "Big, Bad Bruins" were playing their best hockey for those few years. When the Bruins won two of three Cups 1970-1972, little did I know that I'd be writing in 2009 about their not having won it since then. They're long overdue!

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Well the Media & Bettman got their wish, King Sid is a Cup winner now.
I think a big story of games six & seven is the Wings offensive disappearing act. Hugely disappointing!! Not getting any goals from Hossa & Datsyuk during the Finals was also HUGELY disappointing & REALLY hurt the team’s chances for victory. The 3rd and 4th liners can’t score all the goals!! Your main scorers have to SCORE goals.
By not winning game six the Wings let luck enter the equation. And unfortunately Luck decided to sit on the shoulder of Pittsburgh Friday night. Two BIG mistakes by Stuart cost them the game & the Cup.
For next season I think the Wings should let Hossa go & use that $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ elsewhere. I also think they should go with a youth movement. Get these GR players who played during the Playoffs into the starting lineup. Part with some vets. They also need to find out if any of these goalies in the minors are the long term answer. If not, then trade for or sign a Free Agent young “stand on his head” goalie. This should be on their near future agenda.
It was a hell of a season, but one that ended with a thud. It is just too bad that the Wings could not find a way to muster the effort that would win one of the last two games.

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That was an exciting finish worthy of a Game 7. Fleury (who I've never been that impressed with) made a Cup-winning save in the last second on Lidstrom that was amazing. Congrats to the Penguins.

I do not know why anyone is surprised at Hossa's disappearing act in the Finals. He did the same thing almost every playoff season with Ottawa.

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Scott - how did you come to be a Bruins fan while living in Michigan? I ask because, growing up (in MI), the Bruins were always my team. The rest of my family were die-hard Canadiens fan; not sure why I was crazy about the Bruins.

This goes back to the late 60s, when the Bruins really stunk it up. Every year for Christmas, I'd get a complete Bruins ice hockey outfit - remember, hockey wasn't even that widespread back then.

Orr, Esposito, Cashman, Cheevers, Green, Pie, Hodge, Bucyk, etc. etc. I can still recite their sweater numbers. We only saw the Bruins maybe once or twice a year on TV, it was always a big event for me. I still have a cassette tape somewhere of a 1971 Bruins/Canadiens playoff game that I recorded off the radio. What a nerd I was.

My man was Bobby Orr. I still get chills when I see old clips (check YouTube) of him carrying the puck from end to end, or the diving goal against St. Louis.

That was a magic time for me.

Jon

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Sabres have never won it. =(

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BLASPHEMER!!!! Orr never dove! Ever! He was tripped by cowardly Blues defenseman Noel Picard, who was jealous of his boyish good looks and otherworldly skill.

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Jon,

From 1958-1993, I lived in Massachusetts and (for a couple of years) New Hampshire. The Boston teams are (and always will be) my favorite teams.

You're right about hockey not being widespread back then. But the Bruins of the late 1960s and early 1970s (yeah, The Big Bad Bruins) changed all of that for me. Heck, not only did I play street hockey, I also shot the puck around with a few friends in our cement-floored basement which was very long! My friends and I used to raise the ire of my mother (and she was right), since the puck would sometimes hit her clothes washer and dryer -- my bad. But those ricochets off of the wall into the goal were a sight to behold.

BTW, Jeff Gatie -- yes, the same Jeff Gatie of this thread who assisted Orr with that goal against the St. Louis Blues -- and I have talked about similar memories playing street hockey in and around Boston years ago.

I owned the paperback book as well about the Bruins that came out shortly after their "Big Bad Bruins" period. That was a fun childhood read for me.

Jeff,

LOL. But that clip will forever be etched in the memories of Bruins fan, won't it? It was a magical moment, never to be forgotten.... I remember fearing the New York Rangers en route to the NHL finals that year. I'm not sure why -- perhaps it was because Eddie Giacomin could get really hot, or was playing really well that year. Somehow, we got by them in six games, if memory serves.

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Jimi,

I know, even when they had Gil Perreault. I think I remember his 500th goal.

How long have the Sabres been in the NHL?

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Yeah, I know that. I didn't mean to imply that he intentionally dove. Just that, after the trip, he did, in fact, end up 'diving'.

I played plenty of basement and street hockey as well. We thought we were bigshots the year we got a 'real' net. In the winter time, it felt like NHL ice hockey. I still remember loving the feeling of frozen-sweat hair sticking to my forehead.
Jon

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As an aside, I met Eddie Giacomin a couple of years ago during the OHL finals between Plymouth and Sudbury. He is from Sudbury, played his junior hockey there, and is friends with the Foligno family (Mike coached Sudbury, and his son was on the team and now plays for the Ottawa Senators). He sat right in front of us during the series, and we talked some hockey. He is a nice man.

Habs fan here who has endured a 16 year Cup dry spell after being spoiled for so many years during the '70's.

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The 70-71 season. The 12th team to join the NHL I believe. 3 time conference champs.

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That would be the 13th or 14th team, not the 12th. They entered the league with Vancouver.

The league expanded from the Original Six to 12 teams in 1967. Pittsburgh, LA, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Minnesota and Oakland entered the league that year to join Montreal, Boston, Chicago, New York, Detroit and Toronto.

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Jimi,

So you've been waiting a tad longer than I have! It's not much fun. I really thought that this was our year. ;(

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I was very disappointed that Hossa turned his back on the Pens and went to Detroit because he thought it would give him a better chance to win the Cup. Can't say I feel very sorry for him now.

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Hey Bob and all the other Hockey lovers!

I am still alive after the exciting game 7 finish...I started to post Saturday AM before my kiddos got up, but got sidetracked and never got a chance!

Man, what an exciting game...loved every minute of it...to show you how different my wife and I are about sports...I am glued to the set, can't take my eyes off of it, up and down and all around with every rush, save, clearing pass. Wife - reading a magazine on the couch. She's tired and falls asleep for part of the 3rd period. She's from Pittsburgh just like me, but not as crazy as I am...such is life - she's dealt with me for the past two months and while happy the Pens won, was equally happy that it was OVER.

Anyway, what a season. I did manage to skim through the thread and really forgot how putrid the Pens played for a period of the season. 10th place - 5 points out. Not too good. Going on the road trip, winning all 5 games capped with my attendence at the closing game versus the Caps!

Can't say enough about Max Talbot. Sure came through - he'll certainly keep his gig as BMW salesman. Fleury came through big as well - hopefully quiets the naysayers. Last save was something else...

The Cup seems to be making its rounds in Pittsburgh. When I spoke with my folks this AM, they said big contingent of Pens were on the South Side at a couple of bars with the Cup. Then at the Pirates game yesterday - incidently, they beat the Tigers. Parade is today. My mom works downtown and will be in attendance. Route is right past her office. Folks were already lining up.

What a season! Here's to a great year and I hope many more Cup's to come for this young group!

Let's go PENS!

Randy

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I guess I was way off.

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Cool pics, Bob.


Not really... you only missed by one or two teams. And if you consider that Oakland (later California and then Cleveland) no longer exists, then retroactively Buffalo could be the 12th team.

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No cups in 38 years may be bad, but no cups in 37 years and only 5 in 85 years, 43 of which ONLY HAD SIX TEAMS -- arrrrrrrrgh!!!