The Hockey Thread

[TGWL]

I dislike both teams.

After reviewing the clip(lol), there's no way in hell that was a cheap hit. Unfortunately, there wasn't much either man could've done differently there. Markov was turning with his right skate, while his left skate appeared to be almost straight....so when he got hit, his right leg changed and he went straight into the boards, but it wasn't a hit from behind, it wasn't a cheap it.

As for the argument of him being chased, the clip wasn't long enough to show it. He connected more with his shoulder than Markovs back.

I didn't get a chance to watch the second clip, yet.

[Clawson]

If you haven't watched the second hit, I was being sarcastic about it being clean. Most Habs fans have tried to argue that it was Van Ryn's fault though.

[SeanDMan]

Uh, neither of those are clean hits. The first one is boarding (although a very negligable one, since the positioning and posture of the player on the puck is more responsible for the board, but it's still pushing a guy face first towards the glass from behind). The second one isn't even close to being a legal hit, as it's a board and a charge since he'd been going full blast basically the entire zone. Van Ryn does turn into it, turning to stop the puck rather than playing it along, and so takes it in the back rather than in the side, but still, you saw his numbers the whole way, lay off.

[Toe]

I don't see a point in arguing about these hits anymore since the season is over. Lets move on to next season and the hits Exelby is going to lay down on Scott Gomez and Mike Cammalleri!

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

If you can't beat 'em, beat 'em up?

[Toe]

If you can't beat 'em, beat 'em up?

Yessir.

[Clawson]

Awww....aren't they cute?

[Enter Blue Guy]

I don't think Gionta was photoshopped into that picture. That's him, legit.

Gomez looks happy. He must be looking forward to all those delicious pasta dishes his line mates will be dropping off to him at home when he's out for a few months with Schenndonitis.

Edited July 19, 2009 by Enter Blue Guy

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Vic Rauter watch: Calling a Sharks/Habs game from a few years back on ESPN Classic Canada with Gary Green!

[Cactus Drags]

ESPN America has randomly started screening old Stanley Cup games on a Saturday morning, it's wonderful. I saw the 1958 Game 7 Habs/Leafs, the '64 Game 3 Leafs/Red Wings and I have recorded a game from the '65 finals, which I think is Habs/Bruins If I remember rightly? It's really cool to see how the game has changed, even in the presentation, like there's no colour commentator, the between-period interviews are more formal etc. The best thing was during the intermission of the '64 final, they interviewed the "Kid Line" from I think 1931 (I'm sure a Leafs fan will come along and correct me >_>) and they asked the one guy how the game had changed and he was talking about the introduction of the "slap shot" (two words, not one). Brilliant, really enjoyed it. The only thing I missed seeing that we have today is instant replay. No celebrity interviews, no fucking scrolling text or giant score overlays, even the advertising was understated.

[TGWL]

ESPN's projections for 2009-2010 season.

EAST

1st. Pittsburg Penguins

2nd. Washington Capitals

3rd. Boston Bruins

4th. Philadelphia Flyers

5th. Carolina Hurricanes

6th. New Jersey Devils

7th. new York Rangers

8th. Toronto Maple Leafs

9th. Montreal Canadiens

10th. Buffalo Sabres

11th. Ottawa Senators

12th. Florida Panthers

13th. Tampa Bay Lightning

14th. New York Islanders.

15th. Atlana Thrashers

WEST

1st. Detroit

2nd. Chicago Blackhawks

3rd. San Jose Sharks

4th. Calgary Flames

5th. Vancouver Canuks

6th. Anahein Ducks

7th. St. Louis Blues

8th. Dallas Stars

9th. Columbus Blue jackets

10th. Los Angeles Kinds

11th. Nashville Predators

12th. Edmonton Oilers

13th. Minnesota Wild

14th. Phoenix Coyotes

15th. Colorado Avalanche.

TheHockeynews.com

The TOP 10 worst UFA contracts.

10th. Chris Neil $8/4

9th. Mike Komisarek $22.5/5

8th. Colton Orr $4/4

7th. Nik Antropov $16/4

6th. Marian Hossa $62.8/12

5th. Mike Cammalleri $30/5

4th. Nikolai Khabibulin $15/4

3rd. Martin Havlet $30/6

2nd. Brian Gionta $25/4

1st. Marian Gaborik $37.5/5

Top Ten quotes of the year.

10th. "You guys are all great. I love you all, but I have to go and take my teammates to dinner while they still like me."-– Sean Avery, while still with the Dallas Stars in October

9th. "I just like being the youngest guy on my line" – John Madden, 35, on New Jersey linemates Brendan Shanahan, 40, and Brian Rolston, 36.

8th. "What's so special about (Crosby)? I don't see anything special there. Yes, he does skate well, has a good head, good pass. But there's nothing else. Even if you compare him to Patrick Kane from Chicago, (Kane) is a much more interesting player. The way he moves, his deking abilities, his thinking on the ice and his anticipation of the play is so superb."

– Washington’s Alexander Semin

7th. "Mike Babcock was without a doubt an obstacle in my career. I wanted to prove him wrong – I'm not going to lie. I used him as big-time motivation. I thought he put his best foot forward to bury me."

– Columbus defenseman Mike Commodore

6th. ""Quite frankly I haven't really been watching games. I've been following the scores, but I haven't been watching games. From my perspective, I just really need to focus on how am I feeling, how everything goes with me and then if everything goes good, I'm going to jump in to play. Definitely the pressure is on, but first of all I want to feel confident in my body and...so far everything is going well."

- Minnesota's Marian Gaborik prior to returning at the end of March from missing 38 games with a hip injury.

5th."They were throwing stuff at my family. It was pretty wild. My mother-in-law got hit in the back of the head with a beer towel."

- Columbus center R.J. Umberger discussing the reception he and his family received during a game against the Penguins in Pittsburgh, back when he was a member of the Flyers.

4th. "Al is sort of like a spaghetti salesman. He just throws so much against the wall and hopes something sticks and it usually doesn't stick. It's b.s., and Al thrives on b.s. It's total lies."

– Former Tampa Bay coach Barry Melrose in response to reporter Al Strachan's comments on an October broadcast of CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada that Lightning co-owner Len Barrie drew up plays for the team in the dressing room.

3th. If I were in (Alex Kovalev's) skates, I'd have played my last game for the Canadiens. No player with his talent would accept being humiliated like that. I don't know what (Bob) Gainey is trying to prove in front of everybody."

– Former Montreal player and current Canadiens community ambassador Guy Lafleur after Kovalev was sent home from a road trip in mid-February for lackluster play.

2nd. "I think he is not Belarusian now, he is French because I never fight with Belarusian guys. I don't know why he wants to fight with me. If he wants to fight, we'll go in the street and every minute of every day I'll wait for him and we'll fight."

– Toronto’s Mikhail Grabovski on fellow Belarusian Sergei Kostitsyn after a fight-filled game against Montreal in January.

1st. "I knew I had to get to the bench because I didn't know how much blood I was actually losing. It was dripping. I was scared. I needed some help…I just didn't know if my brain was sticking out of my head."

- Tampa Bay's Martin St-Louis on being cut on the forehead by linesman Derek Amell's skate blade in December.

Edited July 22, 2009 by thisgamewelose

[Plubby]

We are sooo 15th this season, it's true

[NobBe Nobbs]

8th. Toronto Maple Leafs

Oh ESPN, you slurp that Kool-Aid on down.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Yeah no way the Leafs make it ahead of the Habs.

Or anyone else, for that matter.

[Gabriel]

So, the Islanders land John Tavares, and now they're spending money on Free Agents. Problem is, they're spending money on Goaltenders.

Joining DiPietro this season will be Dwayne Roloson, and now Martin Biron. $1.4 mil, so it's not a huge hit, but really? You need THREE starting goaltenders? They got Rolly... so shouldn't they be focusing more on, oh I don't know... building up a respectable roster?

[TGWL]

That's pretty laughable. I did hear that both Danni and Joey McDonald were not going to be resigned. Haven't really checked up on that news, but still, they were backups. I have a feeling DiPietro won't be playing more than 10 games this season.

Yes, I am pulling that number out of my ass, but it doesnt make much sense to sign both Dwayne and Biron.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

DiPietro's probably still the best of those three, and certainly the one who's going to be stuck as an Islander because there's no way they'll trade him.

Very weird move though, it's like Garth Snow's building a collection of goalies who were better than him.

[SeanDMan]

He's got a lot of goalies left to sign, then.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Well they've got Mike Dunham working as a coach, so that's one less to go.

Rick Tabaracci and Peter Ing might be tough to track down, though.

[Clawson]

The NHLPA has called Dany Heatley a "victim" in that whole mess. What in the fuck?