Theophany

Our series vs the Hawks will be amazing to watch. I'm giddy already. (Before anyone replies with "don't count your eggs before they hatch"... We'd have to seriously fail hard tomorrow to push to game 7. The Ducks are on the ropes, and it's obvious.)

Taking Chicago, Boston, Carolina, Pittsburgh, or Washington lightly is retarded; they're all great teams. They're all beatable, but saying Anaheim is the hardest to beat out of them shows how little you know about hockey.

It certainly helped that Getzlaf appeared to be injured.

Watch the replay again. Even if he couldn't move that way, Hiller made no attempt at the shot because he had no idea where it was. And no, it wasn't interference. Hiller could still move. Granted, his face probably would have gone into Cleary's crotch, but he still could have moved to get the shot, had he saw it.

This thread needs some 6 year-old Sith Lightning. Also: MMM. Tastes good!

Someone ring up Homer and have him do it.

This. Really the only thing Ovechkin does is actually take weight OFF of the leg that was going to impact with Gonchar. It was a complete accident, and in hindsight, Gonchar would have been better off taking the hit and recovering instead of trying to dodge it and taking a knee-to-knee hit. The big thing is that it looks like Ovechkin's knee impacted above the joint in Gonchar's knee area, causing the leg to hyper-extend on top of the damage from the impact. Not pretty by any means, but definitely not suspension-worthy.

Er, were we watching different games? The goals on Hiller were good goals, but they were also off of mistakes on the D of Anaheim. Dats is near invisible thus far. He's not playing horribly, but he's also not playing extremely well. The biggest thing to take from this game is that Hiller will not play as confidently in this series as he has thus far in the playoffs, thanks to the awful decision to pull him for Giguere, if Hiller even goes back in. Giguere proved to be solid, but he's much easier to shoot on than Hiller was.

Sorry, I was trying to give him some credit.

Dude, that's like dividing by zero.

Well if I've got the mentality of a 6 year-old, yeah, I'd probably say that's about right. I mean he can run the NHL (into the ground).

That's not really 'turning it up a notch', that's going from 10 mph to 210 mph.

To be completely honest, in this series I've seen a lot more dirty hits from other Ducks and even some from the Wings more than I've seen from Pronger. The guy is playing hard D; it's frustrating, but he's probably under scrutiny after the history he has (at least, I hope he is). It's completely possible that I've missed stuff, but I don't think I have. ****** bag fans ruin the game for everyone, not just the other team's fans. It's embarrassing to be wearing the same color sweater as the guy being a jackass, IMO.

I've talked with a bunch of my friends today (one is a Habs fan, another a Hawks fan, another a Leafs fan), and they all brought up the call before I could. I asked, "hey, you see the Wings game last night?" and the immediate response was, "OMG THAT CALL WAS F*CKING BULLSH*T!" I didn't even really say anything; I could only reply, "yeah, pretty much man." Wilbon from PTI said it the best, I think: "This is the foulest of the foul. I mean, you can compile a list of the 10 greatest hose jobs you've ever seen and this makes the top half." That there's this much uproar over one call that should have gone to instant replay should send a message to Bettman; unfortunately, he seems to be going with the 4 year-old mentality of, "LA LA LA LA LA CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

I'd probably not even wear a sweater to an away game, having heard horror stories. On a more positive note, at the Winter Classic this year with my brother (we both wore Wings jerseys), we got a couple jeers on the street around Wrigley going in, but during the game, the people around us were pretty good-natured and were joking with us during the game, even when the Hawks were down. Granted we were with two Hawks fans, but it's kinda uplifting to know that not every event is full of retarded ****** bags. Yeah, the Winter Classic isn't playoff hockey, but it was still a big event that a lot of people were incredibly excited for (especially it being in Wrigley). I was really surprised, having grown up in the Chicago area, that I didn't catch more crap from Hawks fans.

Predicting 4-2 Wings, Lids/Dats x2/Zata with goals.

Nobody from the East is really a threat to whoever wins the West. The only dangerous team is Boston, if Thomas is hot (which he's currently not). The Blackhawks, Ducks, Wings (well, when we have our heads in the game), and Canucks all look far better and more competitive than anyone from the East. If the SCF is Ducks/Pens, the Ducks will slaughter the Pens, as they'd have to go through us and either Luongo--sorry, the Canucks--or the Hawks first.

Just imagined Ozzie doing that and almost spit coke all over my screen.

Exactly. Ovie brings fun to the game for people who wouldn't normally watch hockey. A guy I went to high school with grew up and was never really into hockey like he was football. I showed him some Ovie youtube clips, and he was going from clip to clip on youtube for at least an hour; he's now watching the playoffs and getting into hockey. Granted, we're both from Chicago, so he likes the wrong team (my dad is from Detroit, so I grew up a Wings fan, of course), but Ovie is definitely bringing more people into the sport with his style of play. It's hard to not like that.

It's fine; ignore the points I made in my post and just focus on my insult. That's the way it works when you've got nothing, right?

Bobby Orr even said that hits like that have no place in hockey. You're not a 'dinosaur' for wanting to keep brutal hits that potentially end player's careers in hockey--you're and idiot for wanting that. Hitting someone in the head is something that shows a lack of respect, and/or a lack of control. Both are needed for the player lining up opposite you and yourself, respectively. I noted in the other thread about Brown's hit that I've been playing hockey for almost 20 years now, and that kind of check is dirty no matter how you look at it. Brown was obviously either out of control, or going for Hudler's head. A hip check would have taken him out of the play just as well, and been a lot less dangerous, on top of being a higher percentage play in open ice at that speed. The thing that really irks me, though, is that Brown was skating up ice and veered towards Hudler to put that check on him, knowing full-well that Hudler wasn't aware of him. Generally you don't hit a guy when he has no clue where you are. That's a good way to end a player's career, especially when you put a shoulder, elbow, arm, whatever, into his head at that speed.

More likely that something on the inside of the helmet cut him.

And now I'll tell you, as someone that's played the game since age five (I'm now 24)--and played lacrosse since I was nine--that head-hunting (which this clearly was, as he changed vectors, and didn't go for a hip-check which is a much safer check to go for if you're not blind-siding the guy) is the biggest ***** move in contact sports; it's not only dirty, but it shows a general lack of respect for the other side, and the player you're about to hit. I played defense in both hockey and lacrosse, and while I've made some border-line dirty hits in my time, this was a ridiculous hit that should never have been made in the first place. If Brown wants to man up and hit him when he's paying attention, that's one thing. Blind-siding a guy when he's obviously out of a play is ridiculous. Coming in on a smaller guy with a shoulder instead of a hip check from his blind side is down-right villainous. I've attached an image from video. Go ahead and watch the replay at 1:40 and tell me he doesn't hit Hudler with his forearm/elbow. GG. You're a moron.

Brown doesn't have to follow through with a fist/butt-end to the face. That's a bad hit regardless of the way you spin it, and you're an idiot if you think that was a clean hit. He went into that seeing Hudler turned away, and there was a good chance he would stay that way, as that was the way the puck was going. Lining up a hit in that situation shows not only poor judgment, but also shows a desire to harm the opposing player. The addition of blood on top of it being a hit to the head, regardless of it being the visor's fault or not, deserved the penalty, ejection, and possibly the suspension he has coming.

Yeah, your liver would be done by the end of game one, if not period one of game one.