2009 Stanley cup Championship

[moderateamericain]

My choice is the redwings. So much talent, playing at a high level, I dont see any team being able to beat them, If San Jose goes down like it looks like they might forget it. I dont care how good boston is.

[M.Dancer]

Montreal....if not this year, next year in Jerusalem

[Sabre Rider]

The Canucks swept the Blues in four. WTF!?!?!?!?!!? Is Neil Macrae going to have to eat crow live on the Brother Jake Show come the final?

[sharkman]

Macrae can go piss up a rope. The canucks do look good, however. In the west, I just hope Detroit and Anaheim meet and beat eat other up for 6 or 7 games before the canucks get to them.

But Detroit(how I hate Detroit) could well be the favorite if Osgood stays in his groove, otherwise they'll prove human.

[daniel]

There goes my dream play-offs: Canadiens vs Canucks.

Go Canucks!!! Canada's team.

[sharkman]

Wow, the number of hockey fans is really underwhelming.

Something my wife heard, who works with someone with a family member in the Pattison organization. The CBC was not going to broadcast the Blues home games against the Canucks in HD. They had just made some cuts/layoffs and the expense to getting an HD truck there or whatever was deemed too much. I'm serious.

Apparently Jimmy Pattison heard of this and offered to pay so the St. Lious games could be in HD. The first game they played, Jim Hughson announced the St. Lious game would be in HD after all, but didn't say how it came about.

This is a slight on Vavcouver, B.C. and all Canuck fans. For the CBC to not be able to come up with a way to get HD on their own, like using an american HD broadcast or something like that, is really disappointing. Jimmy was the only reason we saw HD.

I wonder if the CBC is still not paying to broadcast CANADA'S ONLY TEAM LEFT in the the playoffs while in Chicago?

[sharkman]

I saw the game in Chicago last night. Looks like the el cheapo CBC isn't providing HD for the only Canadian team left in the play offs. Save on Foods is the HD sponsor. The CBC now officially sucks.

To make matters worse, the colour man, Craig Simpson, has been rather one sided in his commentary, complementing Chicago players and plays far more than the Canucks. I realize these guys are fans too, but to be professional they need to be balanced.

[capricorn]

Go Canucks!!! Canada's team.

It's now 4-3 for Canucks with 16 minutes to go. Stay alive....stay alive....

Is it Go Van Go, or Go Nucks Go, or...never mind, just do it.

[capricorn]

With 7 minutes to go, the Canucks have again taken the lead after Chicago tied it 4-4. Man these guys are hungry. Go Van Go! or something like that. Staying alive, staying alive, ha ha ha stayyyyiiinnnggg allllliiiiivvvve ha ha ha staying alive.....?????

[capricorn]

OK it's now 5 to 6 for Chicago who are as hungry as Vancouver...it's do or die.....I'll check the result in the morning.......hoping for a miracle....sigh

[kimmy]

A great Canadian team advances to the conference finals! Congratulations, Blackhawks!

-k

[August1991]

A great Canadian team advances to the conference finals! Congratulations, Blackhawks!

-k

Great Canadian team?

Excuse my ignorance but I thought the Black Hawks were in Chicago, or somewhere else in the American midwest. (It wasn't St-Louis because I know it's the St- Louis Blues, not the St-Louis Black Hawks.)

Am I missing something? Were the Black Hawks traded to, uh, Regina?

[bush_cheney2004]

Great Canadian team?

I think she means the perrenial saving grace that many Chicago Blackhawks, indeed NHL players, are Canadian.

[kimmy]

I think she means the perrenial saving grace that many Chicago Blackhawks, indeed NHL players, are Canadian.

Indeed; the Blackhawks are very Canadian even by hockey standards. The goalie is a Russian, and that nifty Patrick Kane is American, but most of the remainder are Canadians, and Western Canadians in large measure.

The Vancouver Canucks, by contrast, might as well be the Vancouver Ikeas.

-k

[sharkman]

The canucks lost the series because of the long break after knocking off St. Louis in 4. Luongo is a streak goalie and once he gets hot the coach needs to ride him like Sea Biscuit. Luongo was never able to get hot again, and the canucks took 3 games or so to get going as well, but by then they began to have doubt and fear which makes fools of us all(with apologies to Lombardi).

On the other hand, the Blackhawks, who the Canucks bitch-slapped 4-0 in their last regular season meeting, began to believe. By game 5 the Canucks were trying to play the perfect game when they didn't need to. Game 6 was reffed with the 'whistle in the pocket' method, nothing was called. This tends to give the dirtier team the advantage, and the Blackhawks were indeed dirty.

Kesler was hit with a body check so hard it gave him a cut. He never touched the puck, which never came near, it was a blindside dirty hit in the middle of nowhere. Welwood and Burrows were both high-sticked, and Luongo had a Blackhawk stick rake his neck while lying down, no call. Also, after the whistle, a blackhawk knocked a canuck who fell onto Luongo, no call. Eager was bumped into then faked an injury and played dead on the ice, which sucked in the ref.

So the dirtier team was able to take advantage of these abuses of the rules. But the canucks lost the series because they came out flat after the long break between series, they never played as good as they could again.

[bill_barilko]

The Canucks were outcoached/outplayed/outhustled and outclassed by a bunch of young players who wanted it more.

Alain Vigneault isn't half the coach Joel Quenville is and it showed, Chicago outplayed Vancouver in the third period of every game except one.

[kimmy]

Well, the Canucks are still among the league leaders in excuses, at least.

-k

[sharkman]

Well, at least they made it into the second round, something a certain team from Alberta couldn't do. Have they fired their coach yet?

[sharkman]

The Canucks were outcoached/outplayed/outhustled and outclassed by a bunch of young players who wanted it more.

Alain Vigneault isn't half the coach Joel Quenville is and it showed, Chicago outplayed Vancouver in the third period of every game except one.

It seems to me that the Canucks were not playing well. They've played much better, when they were really making great reads, laser passes, monster hits and tic tack toe goals. If they were playing their best and still got beat down by Chicago, I'd agree with you about being outworked.

The question is, why weren't the Canucks playing their best? After dispatching St. Louis in four, they showed how outworking the other team is done. I still say that sports is at least 50% mental, and when you start doubting yourself and fearing the outcome, it affects your game. So does a 7 day lay off. The margin of loss in the series was too small to merely be by being outworked.

Edited May 14, 2009 by sharkman

[moderateamericain]

Boston out

San Jose out

Anahiem out

Wings over Blackhawks in 5

Wings win the Stanley cup in 6 against any of the eastern confrence scrubs left.

[sharkman]

After watching the first few games in this round, I really must say that Detroit looks like superman. At times it is man against boys in their tilt with Chicago, and as a loyal Canuck fan I must admit that the 'Nucks wouldn't stand a chance against them.

The only chance of competition against Detroit in my mind is a goalie who can stand on his head, and I remain unconvinced that Pittsburgh or Carolina has the stuff to do it.

[moderateamericain]

After watching the first few games in this round, I really must say that Detroit looks like superman. At times it is man against boys in their tilt with Chicago, and as a loyal Canuck fan I must admit that the 'Nucks wouldn't stand a chance against them.

The only chance of competition against Detroit in my mind is a goalie who can stand on his head, and I remain unconvinced that Pittsburgh or Carolina has the stuff to do it.

Wings in 5 for the stanley cup championship, i give pitt game 3 out of desperation

[sharkman]

Well, if anyone can beat Detroit, the 2 punch combination of Crosby and Malkin can. I doubt it though, and am deeply bitter that Detroit remains a powerhouse year after year. They say there's more parity in the league now, but this puts the lie to that fallacy.

[moderateamericain]

Well, if anyone can beat Detroit, the 2 punch combination of Crosby and Malkin can. I doubt it though, and am deeply bitter that Detroit remains a powerhouse year after year. They say there's more parity in the league now, but this puts the lie to that fallacy.

Is that the wings fault though, or is it the fault of other organizations for not following a wining format?

[sharkman]

The Wings have that habit of winning. The are exceptionally good at it, it's their culture. It attracts players more than other things like location, big contracts or whatever. That is why they have more than their share of good skilled players over your journeymen lunch bucket types.

But their goalie situation is crazy. Osgood was washed up and should have been yanked several times toward the end of the season, except somehow he changed his future and found his game. It's amazing what he's done, and he deserves another ring for it.

But I still don't like them, maybe because they win so much and are able to attract the very best players over other teams. Somehow it's not fair, but that's life I guess. So now they're up 2-0 in the series and the Penguins just have no answer for them.