RedRockit

On another subject, Lou, may I ask you about your opinion re Getzlaf's ability vs. his propensity for X checking? I really wanted to admire this guy, but now I just canNOT conjure if he's as good as I think he is, or if he's only good at getting away with stuff.... (which I don't have a problem with, he didn't make anyone bleed. This IS hockey, anyway).

Well said.

With all due respect... STFU. Seriously. Now. Pretty please? (I'm j/k, I do see your point, and it's far from an ignorant one, and you may be perfectly right. It just makes me violently ill at the thought) I've put up with Hull in the past, and have come to admire Cheli enormously after a very loooonnng period of non-acceptance as a Wing. I've even accepted Bertuzzi, because I believe he wants, and perhaps on some level, deserves redemption (I also believe in the possibility of fairies, dragons, good men, and other mythical creaturs). He Who Shall Not Be Named.... the day his name goes on the Cup as a Red Wing is the day I become a Leafs fan.

This report is a PR bandaid, pure and simple. Preds season ticket holders are holding back nervously in the wake of the sale: this is an obvious (and rather insulting) attempt to soothe their (well-founded) fears in order to not lose any more $$ than absolutely necessary in the inevitable transition to Ontario. All B needs is a relatively short attendance total: even were there heightened ticket sales next season or two, that won't stop the move. As Hank said, the man has deep pockets. And an agenda, a rather brilliant one at that. The Golden Horseshoe has 8 million hockey fans, and they can't all fit into Air Canada Centre. I'm verry sorry to Preds fans, but the writing is on the wall, and it's not a happy message for you.

Per the guys on ESPN this afternoon, NBC is reporting the lowest ever ratings for prime time (I took that to mean "My Mother The Car" was a higher-rated show, but maybe that's a disservice to Mama Car). So how many commercials were there for the NHL on NBC? By my count: none. Lot's of 'em for Simon Cowell's latest crapfest, "America's Got Talent".... for "Age Of Love" (most offensive idea EVER for a reality series...heck, even "Poker After Dark" is receiving steady promo! The SCFs? Dead silence. With so very much to grab a viewer's increasingly short-attention span, the NHL cannot neglect promotion. On a similar thread to this one, some posters put forth the (rather good) argument that they're fine with hockey being a niche sport, they didn't need it to rival the NBA or MLB or NFL. All good, that, but what happens when niche sports become nil sports? What happens when a sport becomes marginalized? What happens when a little DOESN'T get inspired and beg for skates for Chrissy, because the Next Great One inspired him: simply because said little has never been exposed to the sport via telly? (and what happens when Centre Ice shuts down because of lack of subscribers? Where is our sport then?)

He's the "missing link"***, not the missing piece. Joking aside, it's hard to assess his impact on the team, both on the ice and in the locker room. It's probably far more of a positive than most of us are willing to give him credit for.... ...dammitall anyway. ***A transitional fossil, especially one thought to be needed to explain the evolutionary gap between APES and HUMANS.

You're going to aitch-eee-double hockey sticks for that. (really funny, thanks for making me laugh, I truly needed it. I feel really depressed now, hockey post-partum is setting in I guess)

Agree completely, it was a nice moment. I also appreciated Sean O'Donnell giving props to the Senators and, especially, their fans. Classy.

Scotty and Rob kissed the Cup-- thank the hockey gods that the Evil Sith Lord (TM OsGod) didn't (or maybe he did and I just blocked the trauma of it all). I can't believe Giggy didn't win the Conn Smythe either. Incomprehensible-- they wouldn't have made it past Wings without him.

You might be a little bit wrong there-- the fans had the great good sense to double their level of cheering after Teemu took the Cup from Whats-Its-Name! They know, maybe...

Nice shot of Scott and Selanne hugging each other. I've liked Scott for a long time, and it's nice to see Teemu have his day (keep telling yourself that, and maybe it won't hurt so much when Pppp...PPPrrrrr...He Who Shall Not Be Named frenches the Holy Grail... *sigh*) RATS!!! but mostly sincere Conga Rats to the Ducks.

HNIC callers are trashing the officials for "phantome calls-- you'd think with the Cup on the line tonight the calls would be for things that are a lot more obvious and serious." Upon the replay, they didn't like that one on Volchenkov that led to first goal. Bring on Grapes!

Nice hit on Pronger.

That's a politically incorrect insult to setting hens everywhere, and you should be ashamed of yourself.. Anyway, he probably was just going broody then, or maybe moulting. Come to think of it, it's a specist insult to setting Ducks, too. Good one, then.

Pronger gets a game suspension for a teeny eensy lil forearm check, and all HC gets is SEVEN DAYS for a grammatical major? NHL needs to review this one. Just sayin'. Back OT-- whatever happened to it, thought we were talking about Draper's POV, not Fedorov's? Or the Sens? Draper is no whinging, ehm err, kitten. He's a vital part of this team, on and off the ice, and I lend much credence to what he has to say precisely because of that.

I'm sorry, I know you said the Sens weren't innocent, and I'm not trying to give you grief. It's not you or your posts, I'm just so frustrated by all the sudden, and to my mind, undue, Sens-timent here. Even though I'm strongly rooting Sens myself, I just think that some people (again, not you, HC) are putting the Sens up on some kind of Winglike pedestal, and they SO don't belong to be spoken of in the same breath as the Wings this year. It's just... listen, you have NO idea how much I have heard/seen from my SabreFriend re the Sens. She is near robotic in her ability to pick up everything that goes on on the ice (she can see goalie interference at the same time a X check is going on halfway across the ice-- part zebra, I think), and I've watched most of the Sens Sabres games throughout the season with her (saw the Brawl at her house), and really learned just who they are as a team and about their play. Learned quite a bit about their tendencies towards the cheap dirty play. You know the first two games in this series, the ones the Ducks won? Think of the Sens as the bully on the block that just met the bigger bully on the next block. Then think of Brian Murray whinging about the officating, and going to Big Daddy Scotty "because they're picking on us".... Pot. Kettle. Black. (although it did give me my first true grin about hockey since the Wings were eliminated)

Just in case you missed this on the Sens Road to the Cup: Alfy boards Tallinder Neil Spanish Archer And the latest Top Two Hits from Neil: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXzx9Qicdwg They don't blow the Ducks outta the water at anything: they are only a bit less successful at being sleazy than the Ducks, and have a bit less size and a lot less depth. I DO admire the Sens for getting there, but they dirtied up a team at least as classy and skilled as the Wings on their way. Please make no mistake: these are the SENS, not the SAINTS.

The net expansion is going down. Total non-starter. And I do want it so..... Don Cherry would have it that we should go back to smaller pads and gloves (since tech has made them far more effective than back in the day), and I'd be fine with that too. Neither will happen, probably ever. *sigh*

Never happen. Hull does have the abrasive edge: what he will never, ever have, is the heart that makes Grapes, even at his most obnoxiously jingoistic and boringly pedantic, still interesting and yes, charismatic.

Really good to hear. Look, I don't want our sport softened up, but I loathe with all my heart head-hunting tactics that are winked at by the officials-- and that goes for BOTH the teams tepresenting our sport in this SCF. Intent to injure should be a priority, and it's been absolutely overlooked: instead, the calls are for petty hooking, tripping, and holding pens.. fuggedabout the guy who just got charged or boarded...! (unless it's one of Our Men doin' it, then Ally Ally In Free... innit? Call the dangerous s***e, let 'em play elsewise. I cannot TELL you how many ridiculous calls for hooking I saw during both con final series for "hooking" when one player barely brushed his stick against another guy, not impeding his progress... absolute eejiocy.

It's not a joke, I read it somewhere online this morning (possibly TSN, but I do a lot of surfing so it could be from anywhere). Forgive me for not looking back thru my history for it, but it's a real and exact quote from CP. Fischer... *sigh* I miss him. We still and will always love you, Jiri.

There cannot be a satisfying rivalry between Ducks/Sens-- they meet too few times. The Sens great rivalry belongs with the Sabres, as should be. It's a great rivalry, with blood and fire and hatred and history and all the good things a sports rivalry should encompass. The obvious rivalry in The West is Ducks/Wings, and believe me, it will be promoted (that is, if promotion were a part of Bettman's strategy for the New NHL, which... durr, it izzint). Hellyah, I cannot wait for the next Wings/Ducks game next-- I think we should bring DMac back for that one game, let 'im at 'em. Bloody Wednesday. (did I just give away all my New NHL cred? ....GOOD!

At the risk of sounding dumb(er)(er), would a 2 game suspension in the SCFs preclude CP from kissing the Cup (about which he has said, and I quote, "I might give it a little tongue"? I seriously, no joke, just went allover gooseflesh typing that. I feel unclean. I'm going to shower now,

From what I understand (and I'm no expert, I just play one on ice), there is no provison in the NHL rules for infractions carryover from one game to another, from one series to another: in effect, repeat offenses are irrelevant unless occurring within the same game (for instance, three elbowing pens in the same game are an automatic game suspension, under the new rules (don't believe a same game three-peat elbow has happened yet?). Repeat offenses mean nothing, legally, per judgment on players. De facto is something else: without Pronger's recent history, he never would have received a second suspension. Listen, as much as I loathe the man (perhaps no one here more, that knows him as well), the McAmmond hit suspension was probably unwarranted. WHY the Duck org is acknowleging this suspension as due and denying the Homer Hit is beyond me-- it's prolly due to the derision with which the previous Homer denial was received, but Burke et al cannot back outta that and still maintain face. Sumbuddy get the politik the heck outta my game!

I can't speak for Lou's point, but I'll sure speak for what I believe we're being told: the NO. 1 & 2 seeds in the playoffs have been defeated by obstructionistic teams. Regular season officating has gone by-the-by... by the bye. Make of that what you will... I'm worried it bodes ill for next post-season-- I mean, should the Wings spend their extra cap dollars on BigBad over SkilledPlaymaker? I dunno, but I surely hope KH can sort this one out. I do trust him.