Shockwave180

And we'd have won the Cup each of the last 13 years.  

It's actually kind of nice to get outshot and still win. It's not something I've experienced often over the last 15 years or so.

You take that back, right now. Quenneville must stay.  

Besides, Scottie behind the bench in Chicago, with that talent, would be terrifying.

Interesting thoughts. I was thrilled when the Hawks hired Q at the beginning of the season, and this is exactly why.

He's gotten a lot of love from the media this season for the job he's done with this young Hawks squad, and rightly so. He's always been a decent regular season coach. But he's never been a good playoff coach. And you can't say he hasn't had talent; he had guys like Pronger, MacInnis, and Brett Hull for a few years in St. Louis; he had Hejduk, Sakic and Forsberg (briefly) in Colorado; and he's got a darn talented team in Chicago too.

But his teams never seem to have that steady, even-keeled system or mental presence in the playoffs. He'll often win a round or two, but his teams inevitably make fundamental mistakes at crucial times and get taken apart by better-coached teams with a more cohesive and consistent system.

This isn't to say he'll never win a Cup; heck, with that talent he has, if they keep him around, he'll probably win one in spite of himself eventually. It's happened before (See Also: Crawford, Mark).

Still, there's a reason the Wings have owned Quenneville over the years. It's no fluke. This series isn't quite over yet, but it's sure looking like deja-vu all over again.

Absolutely. Remember that goal Brodeur gave up in Game 3 of the '03 Finals against Anaheim? The one where he tried to play a slow-rolling puck with his stick, tripped, fell on his arse, and had the puck roll through him and into the net? That goal lost Game 3 for the Devils, and shifted the momentum of the whole series.

Of course, Marty came back and pitched a shutout in Game 7 to seal another Cup, and nobody remembers that goal now. It truly is all about perception.

This is a great thing. Sure, the "soft Euros" line is stale and ridiculous, but as others have said, hockey needs fans like this to re-discover their love for the game, even if they're a bit uninformed and a touch xenophobic. Columns like this can only help the sport, and snobs who want to just call Simmons an "idiot" need to grow up and be happy that hockey's finally getting some good press from the mainstream.