EHM The Blue Line

davey_nyrangerboy02 wrote:Dear god the Rangers just lost to Washington Crapitals

and the sens beat the leafs again on PS ..... Hasek was a monster once again.

Yikes... that just was not good at all. Ended up 4-1 St. Louis, and they were playing without Tkatchuk (who always sticks it to us) as well. Lalime saved 32 of 33 shots after allowing six goals in his last game.

Oh, and Eric Daze is again on the IR with back troubles. I have no idea why they didn't just buy him out and be done with it. Freakin' Daisy... useless won't hit anything even though I'm 6"6' wants to be a 'finesse' forward Lurch lookin fool.

Forgot to mention that the Bruins beat the Lightning the other day. Superb result. Apparently we played very well. Boyes got another goal (I'm gonna be going on about this guy all season ) and Isbister got his first goal (iirc).
Thornton's a concern, though, having gone off with back spasms near the end of the game. 8)

Watched San Jose v Columbus yesterday in what was a surpisingly entertaining game. SJ was really moving the puck well and Denis had the kind of game in goal he should get paid double for.

He was making three and four amazing stops... and then getting beaten on the next one. At one point he just threw his hands up in disgust like 'what in the hell ELSE do I have to do here?!?!' Shots in the second were 22 to 5!

Not often you can say a goalie 'kept his team in' a game that his team ended up losing 1-4 but really that game could have been easily double that.

Well that rookie goalie of the Canadians kept Kovalchuck from scoring. Yann Danis stopped 32 shots.

You should have known that by now ..... All the great golies in these league are French Canadiens with the small exception of Hasek.

Rubbinio wrote:You should have known that by now ..... All the great golies in these league are French Canadiens with the small exception of Hasek.

Right, like Thibault who plays so well for the first half of a year!

But you are right really.... I mean there's also that guy what'shisname who won the Stanley Cup last year and who was it again that he was up against and finished the season with a 1.69 GAA? They were all French Canadiens too right?

Lehtonen is also a hot prospect! But we got also Dunham, so he's only a backup .

I was talking about really great golies:

Brodeur, Roy, Luongo, Theodor, Jacques Plante, Bob Sauve

Last cup was won by Tamapa and according to NHL stats NIKOLAI KHABIBULIN had a GAA of 2.33 and ranked 21.

And in all honesty the only of all NHL golies the most constant one is Brodeur who plays 70+ games a season and has a Sv% of .917.

And 2 years ago, yeah Kipry had a better GAA than Brodeur but he only played 38 games compared with Brodeurs 75.

And in NHL today with the exception of Hasek, the good goalies are Canadien: Theodor, Luongo, Brodeur, Turco, Jiguere, Raycroft, Roloston, Fernanedz, and so on.

I was just jabbing you about over-generalizing; of course I know who the goaltenders I was referring to are. You follow up by doing so again with your lists in your post. There are plenty of 'good goalies' that are not Canadian as there are plenty of players in general who are good to great players who are also not Canadian. It's fine to post a list of good goalies that are Canadian born but you weaken your argument substantially and sound like a Canadian homer (or someone who simply doesn't know the league very well) by saying 'except for Hasek' every non-Canadian born goalie is a schlub.

Rubbinio wrote:I was talking about really great golies:

Brodeur, Roy, Luongo, Theodor, Jacques Plante, Bob Sauve

What?!?! There is absolutely no concievable way you can seriously have Luongo in your 'really great goalies list' along with those names. The inclusion of Theodore is extremely questionable and is on just as shakey ground as the inclusion of Luongo. Of course there are to my memory, save Tretiak, no Hall of Fame type goalies of non-Canadian heritage. But a strong factor in that as well is because the NHL's history is as a Canadian game. There was a time when it was odd to have an American playing. That doesn't however discredit current goaltenders of non-Candaian heritage. Even though you seem to think it does.

Rubbinio wrote:And in NHL today with the exception of Hasek, the good goalies are Canadien: Theodor, Luongo, Brodeur, Turco, Jiguere, Raycroft, Roloston, Fernanedz, and so on.

Again, B. Roloson, Fernandez and Raycroft (no matter how you spell them) are also a bit of a stretch for a good goalies list among the others you have listed. One was a rookie last year and the other two aren't even good enough to nail down a full-time slot. If you want to discredit Kiprusoff for not playing enough games and Khabibulin because it's the first Cup he's won then use the same standard for your own list. Don't stretch your point just to add names to your list and make it seem like you are obviously right. You discredit yourself by doing that showing you are blinded by your bias for Canadian players and honestly? Sound like a bit of an ass.

True: Many quality goalies currently and especially historically have been of Canadian descent.
False: Beside Hasek every other non-canadian goalie can't measure up to a good ole Canadian boy.
Also False: All Canadian goalies solely based upon their being Candian are excellent goaltenders.

What did Kiprussof do this season ? How many wins did he get ? You say Luongo is not a good goalie? 5 games 6 goals agains with 1.37 GAA ... Kiprussof 5 games 21 goals with 4.45 GAA.

Luongo in his fourth season set career highs for wins, games, saves, shots against and shutouts while eclipsing John Vanbiesbrouck's club record for shutouts at age of only 24.

He took Canada to a gold Medal in the Worlds and right now he is one of the top 3 goalies in Canada. He does not have a stellar defence in front of him like other goalies and yet he manages to keep clean shhets. And any hockey analyst you would ask in NHL who are the top 3 goalies in the league today you will hear Luongo in there.

If he is not that great how come Detroit wanted him ? Any Ottawa fan would like to see him play for us.

Theodor, no matter what you say about him is a great goalie and he is one of the best in NHL. 2 seasons in a row he took Mtl to playoffs and he stopped Boston last year in the first round.

Tell me what great non Candian goalie is now in the league ?

Kippry ? not showing any magic yet. Esche ? i do not think so. So who name the other non Canadian great goalies in this league ?

Last All Star Game from 6 goalies - 5 are Canadien Brodeur, Luongo, Theodor, Turco and Roloson.

As for not knowing the league, well i have seen over 100 games over the past 2 seasons and I am watching at least 1 game per day so ....

I never said a goalie that is Canadien is automatically good, I said that in NHL today the top goalies with the exception of Hasek are Canadien. If you disagre name some none Canadiens that are so great in NHL. I really can not see any except Hasek.

I said that there were two possibilities for posting a message like you did; either you didn't know the league or you were being overly pro-Canadian. Since I know you do know the league then there is one remaining explanation.

Re-read my message and you'll see I was adressing the exact things you said; the players you chose to group together and the players you've chose to have a selective blindspot to. It wasn't an attack on you it was pointing out that you were overstating your case and including/excluding players without apparent basis besides "They're the best 'cause they're Canadian and all Canadian goaltenders are the best. So, it's your opinion not statement of fact which is fine. Just don't do one and claim it to be the other. You can't use the same criteria to both give certain players worth and discount other players as insignificant. Unless it's a "That's the way I see it." situation at which point here is no sense in arguing. Just don't set up a statement of opinion as fact.

Beyond that I won't repeat myself since given your question marks per square inch and overal tone you aparently didn't understand my response. You can re-read my message when you get a chance. Maybe then you'll be able to see there is a definite difference between my saying "Come on, when you say it like that it makes you sound like a moron" and actually saying you are a moron which is aparently what you thought I was doing.

I caught the 'Insomniacs Theater' version of the Hawks/Avs game last night.. errr this morning I guess, it comes on at 2:30am.

They looked pretty good I guess; Khabibulin played his first really dominant game in net of the season. The penalty situation was rediculous though. It seemed like they played from mid-way through the first through to the end of the 2nd period on one long 5 on 3 penalty kill. Even so they out shot Colorado 16-6 in the 2nd and 8-1 in OT. A real solid team win as they scored three in a row in the shootout Which is still an affront to the hockey gods

Tough trip, they go from there to San Jose tonight to meet up with the Sharks.

Khabibulin is at the Hawks?! How and when did that happen?!

Argh! Ottawa are 4-0 up against the Bruins. I'm never gonna hear the end of it from my Canadian flatmate (she's a Sens gal)

archibalduk wrote:Khabibulin is at the Hawks?! How and when did that happen?!

Yeah, free agency! That's how Tampa were able to re-sign both Vinny and St. Louis; they had to let Khabi go.

Coming from the cheapest darn team in the league I still can't quite believe it. They were interviewing him after the game and it was kinda surreal seeing him standing there wearing the Indianhead. Not helping the disorienting feeling was I'd never heard Khabi interviewed before and I was expecting an accent and he speaks like he grew up in California or something.

Man you just never know what's going to happen when you watch a game

The Hawks and Sharks just played about a 25 minute second period... Barnaby scored from about six feet out on a scramble/rebound and all the Hawks players raised their arms to celebrate but the puck had gone over the line and went all the way to the back boards staying in play! Barnaby was yelling at the ref saying that it was in but the play was still going so they went back to playing and the Sharks took the puck down and got several shots on the Hawk net. The game kept going on with chances at both ends again for about five minutes. The Hawks eventually got called for a penalty, creating the first stoppage of play.

The refs called upstairs to the video booth and determined it was in fact a goal! Turns out Nabokov had tipped the back of the net up just enouch to allow the puck to go under it as he moved to make the save. In real time though it looks like a magic trick or something. It was a truly bizarre moment.

Anyhow, as a result they had to wind the clock back to the time of the goal! Not sure why, but the Hawks still then had to kill the penalty that occured in game time that no longer exists basically... crazy man, crazy! Even stranger than when LeClair I think it was put his shot actually though the net in a game.

One goal game in the last five minutes or so with the Sharks on the powerplay the Hawks pulled a man out of the zone to circle around center-ice leaving the Sharks with a five on three really but then they had to pull a player out of the zone to cover the Hawk player circling center. So it was 4 on 3 really and the Hawks were just looking to intercept a pass and send the guy at center off on a breakaway... can't say I've ever seen that one! It never really worked though and the Hawks fell 3-4. Backup goaltender Anderson face 46 shots.

Good game out of the young Hawks though, I think these kids could really come together and be a pretty exciting team.

Hawks have had to kill off seventeen 5 on 3 penalties already this year. Yikes.

My oh my... the Hawks pretty much got their heads handed to them today in Vancouver. It was rather ugly. They have an almost complete inabilty to stay out of the penalty box. It started in the preseason and while most teams have started to figure out the Hawks keep hooking people from behind etc. etc. and it's just getting rediculous at this point.

Check out this stat... after tonight's game the Canucks have had to kill off two five-on-three's; the Hawks? They lead the league in that dubious stat now having been at a two man disadvantage sixteen times in just seven games and TEN in the last three games These aren't the "they'll be on the 5on3 now for twenty seconds due to the second call" variety either these are 1:40+ stretches! With not being able to clear anyone out in front of the net etc it's almost impossible to kill a 5on3 now. Vancouver scored goals 2, 4 and 6 minutes into the second period after Chicago had battled them closely in a 0-0 first period.

Beside the neverending string of penalties this also seems to be a team that can do everything right except finish plays. If it weren't for Vorobiev having a breakthrough beginning to the season they'd have nobody scoring. They do all the right things, get the turnovers, make the passes, get the odd man rushes etc and then the pefect pass comes out to.... Jim Dowd streaking in from the point With Aucoin, Ruutu and Daze all out with nagging injury it's pretty ugly. Aucin returned today after missing four games with his groin injury but didn't even last the whole game as it acted up on him again.

If they could stay out of the darn box they'd have a chance but this game was just this side of embarrasing, as the 6-2 score actually flatters the Hawks as without tons of effort and great play from Khabibulin this thing could have easily gone to double digits...

Darn it. The Bruins lost to the Habs for the second time this season.
We might be getting Ray Bourque as some sort consultant.

wOw... I just saw this stat about the Thrashers recent games: 25 goals allowed and only two scored in the last four games. Four!

It's like last night was "Welcome the the 'New NHL' Night"; of ten games the lowest scoring game was a 3-1 game and then there were three 3-2 games, a 4-3 game, two 5-4 games, a 6-0 game, a 6-3 game and a 7-2 game talk about piling on.

Here's a little emotion theater recreation of many goaltenders so far this year:

Really don't understand why... we got two decent goalies. We had lots of shots but we couldn't score. But we also played a "8-1" against the Caps (but that was 5 matches ago )...

Well, everyone's hurt... but it still doesn't explain why they can't put pucks in the opposing net though.

Pens 3 - 6 Bos
Now we're talking! We got four PPGs in the space of ten mins in the second period
It's good that we've finally got out of this losing streak and that Thornton put in a good performance - he finally found the back of the net (twice).

Crosby got two assists. Here he is trying some fancy backshot:

Darn it! First we lose at Toronto on penalty shots and now we lose at the Canes in OT. We were 2-0 up against the Hurricanes but then they managed to come from behind. What's frustrating in the Leafs game is that we had 49 shots on goal but end up losing. Doh!

On the plus side, Boyes got a G and A against the Hurricanes.