Official™ 2007 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Talk

Systemfel · Post by **Systemfel** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 3:15 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QphT0Wg9-58

Wow...another huge cheapshot by Chris Pronger.

holydogg · Post by **holydogg** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 3:46 pm

Boom Shaka Laka.....

Ouch, that's hurt...

Post by **batdad** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 5:57 pm

Will the NHL have the nuts to suspend him again? This time for more than 1 game as he is a repeat offender?

All bets: 40000 to 1 odds against more than a 1 game suspension. Although, I cannot wait to hear Burkey go crazy if he does get more than 1.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 6:32 pm

I can't stand Pronger. One of those stupid announcers on NBC was like "Hes one of those players you hate to play against, but love them on your team." I wouldn't ever want him on my team. I'd be embarrassed if I was an Anaheim fan, player, coach, ect...

Post by **Danny** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 6:53 pm

Pronger will sit out in game 4

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=209738&hubname=

Post by **batdad** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 7:42 pm

1 game...lame as usual. League has no testicles.

That being said, Pronger is one of the best at his position, clearly. If I could have him on my team I would. Unless of course I had a choice between him Niedermayer and Lidstrom.

Anaheim bucked up without him before...can they do it again?

Post by **batdad** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 5:45 pm

I had not seen the Neil near miss on McDonald...anyone think that should have been a suspension. Burkey sure does.

Anyway, will it be a battle royale tonight? Anyone think this game will be the best of the series? I know I sure do..and where will I be? At the freaking baseball field. Oh well.

Post by **Danny** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 5:47 pm

Well Baseball is nice as well...

...NOT

Hope the Sens dress McGrattan tonight

Post by **batdad** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 5:52 pm

ANDY MACDONALD! What a show he put on. Where is Spezza? Anyone seen him, other than coughing up the puck or making a bad play?

Does anyone believe the Sens can pull this out?

What the heck was Alfie doing at the end of the 2nd. Clearly shoots the puck at Niedermayer intentionally. Moen,Pahlsson et al sure have him riled up.

And finally, Pahlsson for Conn Smythe? Nieds? Giggy? (Assuming the Ducks keep it together)

Kekkonen · Post by **Kekkonen** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 10:55 am

batdad wrote:Where is Spezza? Anyone seen him, other than coughing up the puck or making a bad play?

He was seen consulting Alexei Yashin before game 1.

Post by **CatchUp** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 1:18 am

Andy Mac for the Conn Smythe?

If he scores again tonight, I think yes.

Post by **Shadd666** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 3:53 am

And no, it's Scotty who got it

Congrats to the Ducks

And congrats to the Sens too, who made a very good season

Post by **batdad** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 5:17 am

Yeah...not surprised on Nieds. The guy is a god. Could have been Pahlsson or Giggy too. But Congrats to the Ducks. At least 15 years now between Canadian team cup wins.

Post by **Shadd666** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 8:32 am

It seems that the Ducks have never been so Mighty!

Now it's already time for those long and boring summer months with no hockey at all

Can't wait for september!

holydogg · Post by **holydogg** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 1:20 pm

batdad wrote:Yeah...not surprised on Nieds. The guy is a god. Could have been Pahlsson or Giggy too. But Congrats to the Ducks. At least 15 years now between Canadian team cup wins.

Another year without a canadian champion team. It's a mourning day to me

I was hoping a less one-sided serie.
But the Ducks deserve it. The best had won.

Snowmon · Post by **Snowmon** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 10:02 pm

Its never really bothered me if it is an American team that wins the Stanley Cup. I mean the majority of good players on the teams are Canadian anyway, so its like Canada always has a piece of the cup. Who cares what country they're playing in.

Post by **Shadd666** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 11:03 pm

Snowmon: Canadian people care

:p

Post by **batdad** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 12:07 am

I don't. Ducks had more Canadian players than Ottawa anyway, if people want to be technical.

Oh and...still no non North American captain to win the Stanley Cup. Argh, I guess when Detroit, Ottawa, Vancouver, and whoever else wants to join the part next season get past 1 round, it is all that will be talked about. AGAIN

Snowmon · Post by **Snowmon** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 3:35 am

Shad,
I guess I should have pointed out, with my location being Texas, that I am Canadian... and US teams winning has never bothered me.

Batdad,
The non-North American captain thing is justified though when you think about it. The captain of most teams is usually one of the players that comprise the core of a team and the one thing that is tough to argue is; if your core isn't North American (really Canadian) you're going to have a hard, hard time trying to win the cup.

I know people will say well what about all the Russians Detroit had when they won their cups.... well their key player, the one that they could not do without.... Yzerman.

Colorado.... Forsberg, yeah he was OK.... but without Sakic they had nothing.

Now, like the discussion we had on the boards here earlier on about Ovechkin or Crosby. A lot of the guys wanted Ovechkin, decent choice, good player. But, if you want to build a cup winner I'll take Crosby.

Sorry, I know I sound like another Canadian horn blower, but the names etched on that silver cup don't lie.

Post by **batdad** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 3:48 am

Tis not true about Yzerman. Yes he was a heart and soul guy. But ask any Detroit player or Scotty Bowman. There is one other guy the Wings would never have won the Cup without. And he is a Swede. The Wings would have been nowhere, ever...without Niklas Lidstrom.

Sorry Snowman I am as patriotic as anyone...but Lidstrom is the best defenseman in the NHL BAR NONE. Yes Stevie Y was great,and a star, and heroic...but if he was Swedish...everyone would say...how come he does not be a vocal Messier, Canadian type leader? What a loser.

In Colorado--same goes for Sakic..cept yeah he was the man. Cept for Roy, Blake, Hejduk, Tanguay, Forsberg, Drury...umm...hmmm.

Sorry but this rubbish about having to have a Canadian captain is just that. rubbish. Same for the idea of the core. The Detroit core was nowhere near Canadian, neither was the Colorado core...just happened to have a guy with a "C" who was Canadian.

Nothing more full of it...of course no Euro has ever won it as a captain, and people make it out to be like it was for the entire 100 plus year history of the CUP.

Ummm no it was not. I think the first Euro captain showed up about 15 years ago. So whup de do. Especially considering that until recently the % of teams with Euro captains was about 5%...Jagr/Sundin. Now we have Alfie, Nazzy, Lidstrom, Sundin, Jagr...more guys...more chances...and likely will happen soon. Very soon.

Snowmon · Post by **Snowmon** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 5:00 am

Yes, Lidstrom is good... but they could win without him... without Yzerman they were dead in the water.

Not sure about you're Colorado point, since you're listing mostly Canadians.... as the core.

Even looking close at home for you in Vancouver. I hate to say say it but "Sedin + Sedin + Naslund + Luongo = Also rans."

And yes, I'm sure it will happen soon too (a European captain winning), but my point is still valid. With a non-North American core.... you're taking the loooonnnngggg road. (As 1 out of a 100 plus cups as you mentioned would attest to.)

Again nothing against European players or captains. My favorite player is Selanne. But, we Canadians listen to the media too much, telling us we're not the best anymore. However, the stats show we're still pretty dang good at it, so I say we should stop apologizing for it. It's not our fault we're good at hockey!

Post by **Shadd666** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 7:56 am

Snowmon wrote:I guess I should have pointed out, with my location being Texas, that I am Canadian...

So sorry dude

The Texas location and the Stars logo made me totally wrong

batdad wrote:I think the first Euro captain showed up about 15 years ago. So whup de do. Especially considering that until recently the % of teams with Euro captains was about 5%...Jagr/Sundin. Now we have Alfie, Nazzy, Lidstrom, Sundin, Jagr...more guys...more chances...and likely will happen soon. Very soon.

I think you're right

(like you are so often

) If my memory serves, the first Euro captain in the NHL was Sundin when he arrived in Toronto.

Snowmon wrote:we Canadians listen to the media too much, telling us we're not the best anymore.

And?... Does medias have any real impact about this?

If so, keep in mind that most of euro players heard in their medias that Canadians are the unbeatable gods of hockey

Does it stopped them to try to beat Canadians? Just take a look at the last Olympics and you'll have part of the answer

To me it's more a matter of time, the way mentionned by Batdad, than a media issue. I'm pretty sure that a team with a euro captain will win the Cup in the upcoming decade. It doesn't change anything to the high quality of the Canadian players, it's just that now euro players are admitted, and most important, respected, as captains

holydogg · Post by **holydogg** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 1:25 pm

batdad wrote: Ummm no it was not. I think the first Euro captain showed up about 15 years ago. So whup de do. Especially considering that until recently the % of teams with Euro captains was about 5%...Jagr/Sundin. Now we have Alfie, Nazzy, Lidstrom, Sundin, Jagr...more guys...more chances...and likely will happen soon. Very soon.

I agree with you. And of all those Euro captain, how much were in a powerhouse team? The leafs are soso, the Habs even worse, the NYR are sympathetic, same for 'Nucks. Lidstrom is in his first years as captains and in his lasts as a player, give him a chance. Panthers with a decent goalie can be something soon. The sens were the best around, Alfie was there but not his teammates...

Post by **batdad** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 6:07 pm

we Canadians listen to the media too much, telling us we're not the best anymore. However, the stats show we're still pretty dang good at it, so I say we should stop apologizing for it. It's not our fault we're good at hockey!

Did I say anywhere that Canadians are not the best anymore? No I did not. That is a completely different topic, nothing to do with Eurocores or captains winning a Stanley Cup.What I said was that the teams you mentionned as running away with the league with Canadian captains, had Captains who "lead' their squads exactly like Euro captains. Yzerman, Sakic, etc are quiet leaders who play amazing hockey. Just like Lidstrom, Nazzy, etc. And had important parts of their core being non-Canadian. You are entitled to your opinion on Lidstrom not being essential to the Cup runs in Detroit, but I am afraid I will take Scotty Bowman's opinion over yours.

Now as for this other thing that I quoted at the top I will venture off topic for one second:

Canada is great at hockey! Duh! Goes without saying...but so are other countries. It is no longer just us at the top. Sweden, USA, Russia, Czech, Slovakia, Finland, not to mention Switzerland and Germany for god sakes...have all done damage to us in the past 10 years. They have all beaten OUR BEST players in some way shape or form. (At least Belarus is not on that list--YET

)

Back to Stanley Cup topic:

Just like the NHL, Euro teams and players can take Canada down at any point. Your history of Canadians dominate is so short sighted in terms of history it is scary. Fifteen years of having about 30% of the league population being Euros..many of whom have won cups....and only about 5 years where in the NHL more than 5% of the leagues captains are non-Canadian.

Oh and finally...I dare you to go tell Jarkko Ruutu or Tomas Holmstrom(or about 100 others in the show) that they are not as cut out to be hockey players that are as tough, work as hard or are as dedicated as the Canadian players. See what happens....

Post by **CatchUp** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 11:31 pm

Ducks on Leno with the Cup:

LINK: VIDEO