Want to discuss any hockey related issues? Heard some interesting news? Watched a great game? Heard an interesting rumor or quote? Talk about it here! CONTAINS SPOILERS!
Systemfel wrote:Go Kärpät! I cheer for them since my dad's from Oulu and he cheers for them
Make those Blues sign the blues!
If only the name of my team would create more respect among other teams' fans, I might actually not feel stupid when I say something like this:
"Kärpät is going down! Blues will take the Cup this year!"
I stick by my team thru the good and the bad, but lately it has mostly been "the bad", so outside the fans of the team, not many people believe Blues have the slimmest of chance against Kärpät...
Hehe, i actually hope (tho find it hard to actually believe in it) that Blues beats Kärpät. Tho this is mostly because i wish HIFK will face some other team in the finals . But best of luck to Blues. Beat those... ehh... guys from oulu?
Frölunda beat Linköping 3-2, after the ref first waved a Linköping goal off to call a goaltender interference penalty on Linköping winger Johan Lindström. Then with 3 minutes left of the game with the score all even at 2-2, Linköping saw the win taken away from them. After a video review another possible goal was waved off for them. In transition after the faceoff, Frölunda star forward Niklas Andersson put the puck in the net.
http://www.aftonbladet.se/atv/player.ht ... 26&clipID=
Let the thing load and then click on the clip "Mål eller inte?" to the right. First the goaltender interference goal will be showed, then Linköping's possible goal and then Andersson's goal. Lindström definately interfered the goalie dressed in red, I think. Judge for yourselves.
In the other semi final, Färjestad faced HV 71 at home, taking a huge 5-0 win in a game filled with penalties.
Hey, go blues! It's 2-1 now for kärpät, since blues on the game yesterday. Tho they better win the game today if they want to win the series.
HIFK - Saipa is now 3-0 in favor of HIFK, and 4th game will be today. I think HIFK will be able to take the victory, if not today then on thursday. If im not mistaken, even in the history of NHL, no team has won a playoff series after being 3-0 down. Oh well, we'll see
HPK - Ilves is also 3-0 for HPK, Tappara - Ässät is 2-1 for Tappara.
eme wrote:HIFK - Saipa is now 3-0 in favor of HIFK, and 4th game will be today. I think HIFK will be able to take the victory, if not today then on thursday. If im not mistaken, even in the history of NHL, no team has won a playoff series after being 3-0 down.
I think the Islanders won a series after being down 3-0. 1976, perhaps?
Linköping took a 2-1 lead against a pityful Frölunda tonight. PITYFUL. TERRIBLE. They can't even get over the blueline. It looked pretty positive at first in Game 3, but then in the second period, everyone just quit playing.
HV also grabbed a 2-1 lead tonight. With the score 3-3, HV scored with 38 seconds remaining and then another one with 20 seconds left.
Quarter finals in SM-Liiga are done, and the teams going to semi-finals are Kärpät - Ässät and HIFK - Tappara.
Saipa - Hifk was a real thriller. Hifk had a one goal lead, untill 59:91 Saipa scored one to take it to overtime. But darn am i glad that Turo Järvinen scored a goal when 73:16 was played. And so Hifk won the series 4-2.
All in all, and after recovering from the initial disappointment, I'm pleased with the Blues this season. They finished 8th in regular season, which is on the middle of the table, and they were able to knock JYP out of the playoffs, and gave a good fight against last year's champions Kärpät, who propably thought they'd sail right thru us.
Next year we'll take the Cup!
Raimo Summanen (General Manager) will build us even better team than this year!
As for who I'm rooting for the Cup this year - I'm putting my thumbs up for HPK, because I don't want Kärpät to take it again, and out of the other three HPK is legendary for it's ability to build a great team with little money - being a small town team. Also their fans are the most infamous and loudest in the league. (My best friend is one of them.)
Linköping won three straight games after Frölunda took the first outing. This gave them a 3-1 lead in the series. Then Frölunda won two games to tie it up.
And today, Frölunda advanced to the finals after shutting out Linköping and winning Game Seven 2-0. Goaltender Tommy Salo recorded his first shutout of the season!
UNBELIVEABLE!
In the finals Frölunda will take on Färjestad of Karlstad in Värmland (a province just east of the Norwegian border). Färjestad will be taking part in their 6th consecutive final. They've lost the last three, two against Frölunda (in '03 and '05, and one against HV 71 in '04). HV had the lead in Game Seven, but in the end of the game, Färjestad scored two quick including the game-winner with 7 seconds left!
Färjestad scored 1-0 after 17 seconds in the first period but in the 2nd HV turned the game around by scoring three goals and nearly a fourth but instead Jörgen Jönsson scored for Färjestad. In the third period when less than 1 minute remained Färjestad equalized and 8 seconds before full time they scored again and will face Frölunda in the final as they won 2-0 against Linköping tonight.
End to end stuff and nothing between these teams. Hope that Stefan Sjogren is ok he took a very nasty hit from brad voth and was strapped uip and take n off. Sjorgen got a 5 plus game and he was n't happy about that but a very hard hit that cannot go unpunished. Cardiff Survived the 5 minutes shorthanded but lost out on a shootout. the steelers haev won teh 3 shootouts they have been in this season.
martin massa put steelers in front at 1.31 into the game
Louis Goulet at 37:19 pulled th egame back level and deservadly so for cardiff
Semi Final 2 is tonight with league champions Belfast Giants and league runner up Newcastle Vipers going head to head in what promises to be a fierce encounter. Face off 5pm GMT
Sheffield who were 6th in the regular season overcame 5th placed cardiff and so shows the competiveness of this year elite league
Hah, what a game yesterday! HIFK vs HPK was a great game, too bad i wasnt able to be at the arena to watch the game.
HIFK was down 0-3 after the second period. Then, 8 minutes into the second period, Tony Salmelainen got the first goal, to make it to 1-3. A minute later, Youngster Lennart Petrell scored another, and the game was now 2-3. Few minutes after this though, HPK scored a goal, which many think it was scored with a high stcik, but referee thought otherwise, so the game was 2-4. At this point i felt devastated, because i knew the next game would be an away game. But Pasi Saarinen kept the hope alive, a minute or two after HPK's goal, and with a powerplay goal, slapshot from near the blue line, made the game 3-4. And finally, less than 4 mins left to play, Arttu Luttinen scored a goal to make it to 4-4.
Overtime was pretty even, but in the end HIFK found a way to end the game. At 75:38, Luttinen found Janne Hauhtonen in front of the net, who shot the puck in to the back of the net. HIFK now leads the series 2-1, and has a chance to go the finals on tuesday, when the 4th game will be played.
Also, this seasons "calgary flames of finland" Ässät has the chance to get the to the finals, because they're also leading the series 2-1. Although they lost yesterday, they're playing this game at home, and they have a fanatic audience (last home game vs Kärpät got sold out in approximately 15mis). So the final i'm hoping for is HIFK - Ässät.
didnt get round to posting last nights 2nd semi result newcastle pulled off a great 4-2 win over Belfast Giants who had Theo Fleury in their roster. A good solid result for the vipers who were underdogs going into that game.
Congratulations to the Newcastle Vipers who beat Sheffield today 2-1 in a great final in a great weekend of ice hockey. It was their first season in the Elite league.
The honours are very much shared out this year with:
Elite League (regular Season considered most important arguably in UK) - Belfast Giants
Play Offs - Newcastle Vipers
Challenge Cup - Cardiff Devils
Knockout Cup - Sheffield Steelers
Coventry Blaze who had a grand Slam last season were left empty handed.
The Elite league seems to be growing in strength especially next year with teh addition of Manchester and potentially Ayr.
Frölunda has tied up the series after winning 6-1 in Frölundaborg, the back-up arena. The ordinary arena is currently being used for Göteborg Horse Show.
"Borgen", as we call Frölundaborg, sorta means the Castle but not the fancy kind, y'know? It's always a great atmosphere during games in Borgen, mainly because of the 8,000 capacity, 5,500 people are standing up!
So, Frölunda won the first of the back-to-back games, then they lost the other one and yesterday they lost the championship to Färjestad - the new Swedish champions...
We had a great final, with two small town small budget teams, both playing with alot of heart facing off against each other.
HPK won the gold, but Ässät also played an excellent season. Pre-season they were ranked 13th out of 14 teams. They surprised every one, propably including themselves by reaching the finals.
HPK on the other hand had never taken the gold in their almost eighty years history, although they had reached the silver medal a few times and the bronze so many times they had been nicknamed "Hämeenlinna Bronze Club" (Hämeenlinnan Pronssi Kerho).
I'm pleased. This is exactly how I wanted it to turn out ever since Blues was knocked out against Kärpät.
Tasku wrote:We had a great final, with two small town small budget teams, both playing with alot of heart facing off against each other.
HPK won the gold, but Ässät also played an excellent season. Pre-season they were ranked 13th out of 14 teams. They surprised every one, propably including themselves by reaching the finals.
HPK on the other hand had never taken the gold in their almost eighty years history, although they had reached the silver medal a few times and the bronze so many times they had been nicknamed "Hämeenlinna Bronze Club" (Hämeenlinnan Pronssi Kerho).
I'm pleased. This is exactly how I wanted it to turn out ever since Blues was knocked out against Kärpät.