The Official 2008-09 NHL Season Discussion Thread

Post by **batdad** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 2:34 am

Meh. 1 game...maybe 2...Flyers fans are always over optimistic about their goalies. How many have they had in the last 30 years since Parent? At one point every one of them was the next best thing. Only one of them was close...Mr. Lindberg. So until Nitty has played 60 games this season and won 40 games...still not what he is in the game. Even his real life press clippings don't live up to the ratings he was given in the orignal EHM DB.

And Manimal...I wish a plague upon Nitty...Cause lord...if I actually had a starter in the beginning...ugh.

Post by **batdad** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 2:35 am

Ducks beating the Leafs merits a post? Heh. Poor ducks..better call Emilio

Post by **getzlaf15** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 2:46 am

Haha! Burke is in Limbo about his future, trades between us and Toronto are being monitored because Burkey is meant to be going.

Charlie Conway and Coach Bombay were always a winning partnership. Bring back the Mighty Ducks!

Post by **B. Stinson** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 3:16 am

I'm not sure where the Flyers fans come into this, but I do want to agree that it's way too early to say anything. Niitty is certainly looking better than he's looked before in his career, but it's only been a few games like batdad says.

As for him being starter, I think it's still early for that, too. As far as anyone knows, the two could just be on opposite streaks, and could both come around to what they were last year. If we're looking at the now, though, then yes, Niitty is the clear starter... 'cause he's been great so-far, and Biron has been nearly laughable. But again, neither of these are normal performances for either goaltender... so they could always snap back to reality.

EDIT: And just to add, Niitty will ever be where he is in EHM. I'm not sure where he got all the skill he got in EHM, but it certainly wasn't from reality.

LoXish · Post by **LoXish** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 3:26 am

Wow.

Mostly joking.

Obviously he's not going to be the best goalie in the world.

Let's not get too serious, fellas.

Dear lord.

Post by **B. Stinson** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 5:16 pm

Well, that's what you get for starting a hockey conversation with hockey fans. - Even a simple conversation is taken as seriously as the game itself.

EDIT:

Very relevant little excerpt from ESPN:

"Philadelphia Flyers: Martin Biron has been incredibly beatable to begin the season while Antero Niittymaki has looked quite unbeatable. Niitty has been a gigantic tease since his 2006 Olympic performance for Finland that seemed to signal his arrival as an elite goaltender. Two troubled hips later, Niitty finds himself as a backup with unrealized potential. After having his hips fixed prior to last season, Niittymaki was supposed to push Biron but a hot start by the latter allowed him to stay as the unquestioned No. 1 all season. It's a much different story this year, as the Flyers are yet to notch one in the win column. Niitty has backstopped the Flyers to both of their points this year with two overtime losses and has a respectable 2.84 goals-against average. Biron has three losses and a 5.75 GAA. This battle looks like it may skip the "goalie controversy" stage and go straight to a change in net. Add Niittymaki now."

eme · Post by **eme** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 5:19 pm

Hey hey hey, he's Finnish, he's bound to be a great goalie, right?

Post by **getzlaf15** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 12:57 am

Hmmm... Nitty looking pretty (rhymes with Nitty) tonight. 4 goals in the first period against those nasty Sharks!

Off Topic, why is Setoguchi having a monster year! 7 points so far!

Franck · Post by **Franck** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 2:24 am

Baseball RUINING my night

No Hawks on Canal+ because NASN are buisy airing the stupid World Series

tabascoward · Post by **tabascoward** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 7:56 am

no idea but it sure helps my fantasy team.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 1:52 pm

getzlaf15 wrote:Hmmm... Nitty looking pretty (rhymes with Nitty) tonight. 4 goals in the first period against those nasty Sharks!

Off Topic, why is Setoguchi having a monster year! 7 points so far!

Isn't he playing with Thornton this season?

Post by **B. Stinson** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 5:11 pm

bruins72 wrote:
getzlaf15 wrote:Hmmm... Nitty looking pretty (rhymes with Nitty) tonight. 4 goals in the first period against those nasty Sharks!

Off Topic, why is Setoguchi having a monster year! 7 points so far!
Isn't he playing with Thornton this season?

In both Flyers games he was. And it was clearly paying off.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 5:15 pm

B. Stinson wrote:
bruins72 wrote:
getzlaf15 wrote:Hmmm... Nitty looking pretty (rhymes with Nitty) tonight. 4 goals in the first period against those nasty Sharks!

Off Topic, why is Setoguchi having a monster year! 7 points so far!
Isn't he playing with Thornton this season?
In both Flyers games he was. And it was clearly paying off.

I just added him to my fantasy team in the Yahoo league I'm playing in. I dropped Burish and his PIMs in favor of Setoguchi's points. I'm actually doing well in that league.

Post by **archibalduk** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 6:07 pm

Franck wrote:Baseball RUINING my night
No Hawks on Canal+ because NASN are buisy airing the stupid World Series

Seems Channel 5 aren't showing any hockey this season. I've checked their TV schedule for the next two weeks but there's nothing at all. I haven't seen a single game yet.

Though that's all going to change when my bank get around to posting me my credit card, enabling me to subscribe to ESPN360 - hooray!

Btw, I've merged the Niitty thread into this one as it was going somewhat OT!

Lazion · Post by **Lazion** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 9:23 pm

B. Stinson wrote:Antero Niittymaki has looked quite unbeatable. Niitty has been a gigantic tease since his 2006 Olympic performance for Finland that seemed to signal his arrival as an elite goaltender.[/i]

True.. I member, when Nitty played in Olympic games and he was just amazing! Hes SV% was 95.1% at the end.
Too bad that he suffered injury in 06 WC and he had to go to surgery.. I have always thinked that he is even better than Kipper or Toskala.
06/07 season was hard to Nitty as you can see that he faced so much shots in his goal.. avr 27 shots in a game.
And he was recover from surgery.
And in last season there come challenger called Biron, who played so well that Nitty doesn't even get a change to climp in starter spot.

Little edit.
And if someone knows how Phillies defence was sucked in 06/07 season..

Post by **getzlaf15** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 12:14 am

archibalduk wrote:Seems Channel 5 aren't showing any hockey this season. I've checked their TV schedule for the next two weeks but there's nothing at all. I haven't seen a single game yet. Though that's all going to change when my bank get around to posting me my credit card, enabling me to subscribe to ESPN360 - hooray! [/i]

Thats really annoyed me, i was looking out for hockey on 5, but all that is on at the moment, is the baseball. I really hope they'll begin showing some, late night hockey is the greatest.

Franck · Post by **Franck** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 1:28 pm

Ribiero was good last night.

selne · Post by **selne** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 2:56 pm

So was Iginla!

Just read an article about Ovechkin and teammates spin around on a segway. Funny story!
Here's the link: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcsports ... egway.html

Post by **joehelmer** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 3:26 pm

That article is almost a year old, but it was a good reading.

Lazion · Post by **Lazion** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 5:33 pm

Hehe. Commodore you rich b**ch.

http://www.faniq.com/blog/Mike-Commodor ... Blog-12907

Post by **batdad** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 5:05 am

2 words: Lou Cheech.

Wait two more: Bobby Boucher...2 starts, 2 shutouts. And I did not dress him tonight. I was going to, and last minute changed to Smith...they played each other and Boucher won...Hey wait, that was way more than 2 words...oops

Post by **batdad** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 5:13 am

BWAH!!! Marc Crawford is now on CBC as a color man, and host on AFter hours. Alex Burrows is the guest tonight. The interview starts with Scott oake asking Burrows to tell everyone what Crow used to say to him and the team when he coached the Canucks. If you can...and if it is there CBC AFter Hours podcast as soon as you can...Absolutely hysterical impression (and accurate) of Crow. Crow is not too sure about it! WOW! I am getting a man crush on Burrows...awesome!@

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 3:57 pm

batdad wrote:2 words: Lou Cheech.

Lucic's hat trick was sweet! He kind of had a slow start to the season but he seems like he's turned it around in the last couple games. He had a less than stellar camp and by the time the preseason ended, had worked himself out of a spot on the top line and down to the 4th line. I was thinking we were going to see a serious sophomore slump. But the coaches talked to him and helped him see that he wasn't playing "his" game. Since then, he's been getting back to what we expect from him. Last night though... WOW! It was great to see the kid get the hat trick and win the game. Clutch goal on that last one!

BTW, did you see that glass shattering hit from Thursday's game? The kid is a freight train! I guess some of the fans that were sitting in that section got some cuts from the glass. This is from the newspaper...

"Yesterday, Milan Lucic met with the two fans who were injured on Thursday when his check on Mike Van Ryn shattered a pane of glass at TD Banknorth Garden. Lucic gave the fans, a brother and sister visiting town, several jerseys, hats, and T-shirts. The fans suffered facial cuts on the play."

The kid is a class act all the way.

Post by **batdad** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 4:01 pm

Yes he is a class act...and he also wore his contact lenses for the first time this season last night...hmmm...Milan quote "It is like high definition TV vs regular TV". Duh Milan, duh.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 4:27 pm

LOL! I didn't hear that bit. I didn't even realize he needed corrective lenses. I can kind of see where he's coming from though. At his age I found out I needed glasses and went a good 3 years or so only wearing them when I was alone and watching tv. Finally, I gave in and it was like "WOW! So this is how things are supposed to look?".