RedRockit

Kunitz is off-- LIMPING?!?

Just doing analysis. Which thus far in the series has consisted of man-love for O'Donnell and noting how the Ducks shut down passing lanes.

Awww, announcer said "that was for Neil's baby girl Haley." GO HALEY!! Tell daddy you need another one.

WHOO HOO!!! Swa-eet, nice pressure. for once.

Can't the Sens just save the cheerleader instead?

Darnit, they were doing so well on the PK. ARGHHH!

Thanks, it could have been him. I've found a couple of references to it, evidently it's an old HNIC/Leafs staple dusted off for the SCF(although I've been watching HNIC for many years now, I don't remember ever hearing it. It does sound a bit 80's, though). Could have been Loverboy?

Does anyone know the name/artist that does the song CBC is using for the finals pre-game intro? Country/rock-ish, with lyrics that go something like, "All the big guns gonna come out tonight, the place'll be rockin' 'cause it's Saturday Night"? GO SENS! I KNOW you're too good for the broom!

Lidstrom was the logical choice after Stevie. I imagine they'd have given it to Cheli if he wanted it, but he seems completely comfortable with his de facto role on the team. Leads me to ponder: just WHAT is it about this team that turns egotistical stars into team role players? Hull? Robaitaille? Chelios? Yzerman? Fedorov? Shooters into two-way D men? Osgood-- perfectly good goalie willing to play 2nd fiddle? I used to attribute it to Scotty, but he's long gone... and yet all that amazing attitude remains.

But those are the very things that aren't getting called, and that is exactly what gives a Pronger the right to feel that he can smash a premier player like Holmstrom into the boards so egregiously. Because he CAN. I honestly believe that had not Rob N been there, with what amounted to a double-team shot, that no call would have been made, The refs were accepting those hits in the BUF/OTT series-- there was a hit on Tallinder by Alfredsson that put him out of the game that was eereily prophetic of Pronger's hit on Homer, and no call whatsoever was made there. New NHL? I call.

Bettman needs to start thinking BIG-- it's the SCFs, for heaven's sake. (try running an ad just ONCE, woudja ever? but I digress). Think BIG. You had Snoop at the game, and prominently featured pre- and mid-game. Get HIM to sing the anthem, and it'd be on MTV/VH1 news tomorrow morning (I know, I know-- I'd hate it too, but it might make a few people tune in to next game our of curiosity and stay because hockey is simply THe Game). Failing Snoop, get Gwen Stefani, the Original Child of the OC. or any number of wonderful post-punk bands from OC. NOT Stills, whose voice hasn't changed since the 60s-- those 60s when his politik certainly wouldn't have allowed him to sing the Anthem for something so korporaten as a pro hockey game. *spits leftover idealogical goo^ Ottawa, get Avril Lavigne to sing the Anthem-- she has a truly gorgeous voice when she chooses, and if IIRC, she's been there done that as a kid. And if MTV could allow her to butcher Metallica's "Fuel" on Icon, then *shrug* let the Princess of PunkNot have a go at O Canada. LIVEN IT UP, NHL. Not for nothing is the SuperBowl popular even when most of the country could care less about the teams playing. It's all about who's performing at halftime... *hint* and it innit Don Cherry.

Duckette, me darrlin child (I'm allowed to say that, I'm old enough to be your... older sister *cough*), yer a prime example of what Hockey Fandomage capitalized is about ("about" pronounced the Canadian way, of course). Fans like you have made me feel better about ("about" pronounced the Buckeye way) the loo.. the loooo... the looosss.. ehmmm, the not-exactly win that the Wimgs dinna get over the Ducks. Good luuu... luuuuuccccc.... luuuucccccc..... Enjoy the Finals. [edited to say: You too, HockeyMom. Go Duhhhh... Go Duhhhhkkkk... sorry, just can't say it: forgive me. Wish "your team" the best]

Nice story. I've never found it a mistake to wear a Red Wings hockey shirt anywhere. I've had bets this year on games with an OC (Dana Point) band that I'm acquainted with, and I've gotten a couple "I told you so, and you owe Jaeger" texts from the two guys in the band that follow Duck hockey. Argh. http://www.myspace.com/theconfession Great music, Matt Sanders (M. Shadows) from Avenged Sevenfold produced their CD... Ducks missed a bet by not featuring some of the awesome music coming out of OC instead of... Stephen Stills? Yikes, loved him BITD, but holy NOT, Batman (or rather, BettMAN!)

I'll pretend I didn't hear that. You may be completely right, given the WCF, but I'd have THE hardest time accepting JI in red... noooooooooooo. I'd rather not make the playoffs than have him wearing the Wheel. (I never aceepted Hull (appreciated his contributions, but to me he was never a Wing-- yaya, I'm a hypocrite) and not even truly accepted Cheli until the last couple of seasons)

I'm really not trying to pick on you or your quoted 'everyone'... but in what benighted universe does anyone pick the Hawks? Besides true fans? Actually, I used to root ChiHawks, when Cheli was there. There was a fire and snarl, and yes, dirty deeds done dirt cheap by their Captain (not the Cheli was the only one-- Wings had Vlad, DMac, Dino, Primeau, etc). LOVED to hate Cheli back then, it took a bit of adjustment to lurve him as a Winged Wheel. The Mellow Chello is a far better player, IMHO.

*sigh* Subjective lists such as this are all about one thing, and one thing only: to garner attention by setting off a controversy storm. It's completely like the Rolling Stone poll that placed Eddie Van Halen at #97 on the list of Top 100 Guitarists of All Time: think they did that because they disrespected EVH's skills or his impact on guitar players everywhere? Nope, you guessed it. They did it because they knew it would start a s***estorm and pull in the hits on the site. Adbertisers*** LOVE this stuff. Yeah, Cam Ward, I could be happy with him over Dom too. ***AdBERTisers?!! My Freudian slip is showing. Go BERT! I may not want to give you millions of dollars, but I do like you in a Winged Wheel.

Kozlov only made $2.3 this year, and even though he had an 80 point season, he was (as has he been) a no-show in the playoffs-- doubt that we'd have to pay EVEN as much as $4 for him, which is why I was hot for him a few days ago, when I thought a cheap, playmaking scorer that fit in w/ the Wing system would be the way to go. Looking at the SCFs, and who made it there.... darnit, give me some large guys that can throw their weioght around and snipe some goals. Give me the next Shanny. Is that too much to ask?

Out of pure curiosity, was he there with his son? (Ok, so it's NOT out of total pure curiosity, I/m looking for any tie, however tenuous, to Detroit for his family) DOM back for ought eight!

KP, maybe it's because yer just relentless on this subject, but you're swinging me around to your way of thinking Much of it has to do with watching the SCFs. OUCH. I never thought the Sens would get spanked this bad. We need bigger and power next season. I just don't know that we can afford the kind of polished performers that would fit in with the team as it stands...?

Easy there hoss. Take a deep breath, no one's out to get you. Or our Wings. Is what it is, history's in the books for us already. Time to get over it: Relax, maybe play some golf.

That'a truly good to hear. A local friend , neighbor of a friend, sent his daughter and wife out there so his kid could pursue FS w/Frank Carroll (cost a BUNDLE and a half, but the guy's a Motor City exec, commutes 3 hours daily if he can't phone it in. Also has corporate box seats, which my friend (who could care less about sports!! argh!) tells me are THE BEST TIME EVER. Back on topic, maybe it wouldn't be the Worst Thing Ever if the Ducks won. But Duckfans, PLEASE still allow me to hate the hell outta Pronger, Public Enemy No. 1. He is THE current worst thing that ever happened to the New NHL. What I REALLY hate is that his success re the cheap shot, intent to injure style is infecting potentially deadly players such as Perry and Getzlaf. They are amazing potential stars and don't need the dirty play to be hot. (you know if Prongs weren't on your team, you'd hate his play, c'mon!

Absolutely-- last night's game was riveting, even though scoreless till late. Here's a big caveat, though: I used to be proficient in marketing and PR, and in discussing that game with SabreFriend today, I PO'd her much by saying that the celebs schmoozing were a Good Thing for Hockey. And that, though hockey fans undoubtedly grokked that scoreless game, it would bore the heck outta a potential fan tuning in (dunno how many casual would-be's there would actually be, considering VS is NOT on anyone's, anywhere, FAV list, and most people in the US who have VS also have 120 other channels). (Don't get me wrong-- it was truly creepy seeing Snoop signing auto's for little kids at a HOCKEY GAME. SO WRONG that I think the world whirled a bit off-axis last night. But looking at it from a purely biz angle (and thinking how much celebs have done to put the Lakers on the publicity map: Kobe and Shaq would have been LeBron--superstars w/out a PR hook, w/out the H'wood angle for E! or ET), maybe the Ducks appearance in the SCF could be good for hockey. Anything's better than the non-existence of our sport on telly, and dumb, non-hockey stuff could bring new fans to the sport. Exposure is a HUGE thing, and our beloved sport just isn't getting any here in the US. There are ways to market it (SabFriend yelled at me about my overly-commercial ideas, so I won't bring 'em up here-- but heck, if even I have those ideas, couldn't a dream team of admen and PR peeps come up with a fantastic push?) SabFriend thinks I'm insane, thinks I'm suggesting bastardizing our game. I'm just being realistic, but I must agree: Snoop, and all that the man has embodied in his music over the last decade, signing autographs for littles and being celebrated as a Ducks fans goes hard with the grain with me.

I'm quoting your whole post because I agree with much of it.... BUT (hadta know it was coming, yes?).there's an importance in discussing the inconsistent reffing. There's far more going on here than missed calls and human error-- and it's not Konspiratsia (much as I'd love to put it at Bettman's door). The rules, and more importantly, the common practices, for refs in our New NHL are evidently clear as the Cuyahoga. I honestly DO believe that the refs are doing as well as one can humanly expect, but I think they're faced with a quagmire for which they are ill-prepared. Something that should NEVER happen in professional sports, especially two years gone from change. I was upset during the whole of the Wings/Ducks series, believing that cheap-shotting and hooking and tripping won that series,. BUT-- even if that were as true as my homer glasses told me: the Ducks got away with it, and in hockey, IF YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH IT, it's fair game.For anyone who watched the BUF/OTT semis, you saw Ottawa doing the same thing to the Sabres that the Ducks are now bringing to them (unclean hits, forechecking, interference whenever BUF tried to dump it in, etc. etc etc.) It's humourous that Murray is now complaining about the things that his team did simply because he's now up against a BiggerBadder. At least in the so-called Old NHL, that was the rule-- if you can get away with it *winkwink* it's a fair play. C'mon, you all know our Red history isn't lilywhite-- nor is any other teams'. But this is supposed to be a New Era, and look-- two extremely physical teams made it to the SCF's over two skilled teams. The NHL is sending a message (however inadvertently, I don't give Bettman enough credit to send a message to his assistant's secretarty's assistant to send out for PIZZA on his own hook) and I personally rescind my preference to retain Bert (his history renders him virtually incapable of goonage) or to get lil Kozlov back (don't care about his skills, give me a nice big dumbass to shut down the other team's scorers however many pens they take, our PKs pretty potent, so what?). Yikes, though I was done w/ bitter, evidently not from my last para. There are bright spots on the Ducks team that will leave me without a bitter taste, I WILL say... Getzlaf, Penner, and even eejit Corey (Yer Gonna Get It, and Yer Little Dog Too) Perry have shone, and evidently Don Cherry ADORES Sean O'Donnell (hmmmm, Ok, I kinda see it, but just hmmmm...), and Jiggy has been a solid wall. Still praying for a SENS win, but I fear there aren't enough novenas... I already set the church on fire with candles last series.

*jumps on soapbox* That's why the NHL should actively promote youth leagues in Sun Belt/rexpansion areas... there is SO much that could be done to promote hockey that just isn't being addressed whatsoever. *relinquishes soapbox reluctantly*

Ok, I laughed. But this is truly tragic, and I'm not using hyperbole here. The Ducks have all the pieces in place to win the Cup, and this... THIS... is the reaction? The NHL's Cup Final has always been a major thing to me, and I didn't grow up in an especially sporto household (only daughter, Dad follows football and baseball, Mom never missed a Buckeye game. No hockey in my home, but I absorbed respect for the league and I always knew who won the Cup). May Bettman Burn In Heck.