FromItaly

Good post. The Sid-bashing has nothing to do with the fact he plays for the Pens. As for our friend the Pens fan, if coming here and playing the smartass is your definition of fun, you must have a very depressing life. I'm almost happy you won the cup, you definitely need it more than I do.

I'm happy to see you have so much fun reading haters' posts. I sure did last year when it went the other way around, and I suspect I'll feel the same way in the near future. Anyway, as happy as you are in your gloating "we-are-the-best" period, you are entirely missing the point. If we needed to hate a player because he's good, the we would go after Malkin, who is better than Crosby and played a much more effective role in the finals. Point is Malkin is not as whiny, arrogant and full of himself as Crosby is, and that's a difference true hockey fans notice. Crosby looks more like a European soccer player (being where I am, I know many of those). You are ridiculously wrong. Message boards were starting to be around in those years, but more than that, people were around and they talked about hockey (a sport that existed long before Crosby began playing). I was living in the US back then, and I assure you nobody hated Gretzky the way we hate Crosby. I remember we were furious with Forsberg for his dirty, cheap, dive-prone style, but Sakic had our respect (mine and that of the many people I knew back then, maybe I was just lucky to hang around with all the good ones) even after kicking us out of the playoffs twice in two years. Crosby is just a negative figure, and the Pens as a team would get much more respect from us if he were different, or didn't play there.

Personally I don't hate either of the teams. I just hate some of their players, such as Pronger, Niedermayer and Cry-sby. The only team I still hate is Colorado, despite recent developments.

We hate Crosby because he is the best? Wow... I remember when Gretzky and Lemieux were playing. They were the best (truly), and everybody respected them for that. Now we respect Joe Sakic, although he used to be one of our fiercest opponents and he defeated us in more than one occasion (and far more deservedly than you guys did this year). If Crosby were really the best player around - i.e. if he were a true leader, a decent sportsman, and if he were more of a two-way player - we would respect him. He is not, and yet it sounds like this is HIS cup... That's the thing I personally hate, and I would hate that as well if I were one of the Pens players that ACTUALLY did something to win (Staal, Talbot, etc.). As for the original topic, I guess Bettman has accomplished his two big projects, the Ducks and the Pens. Now it's time he moves on to another one. Chicago, maybe?

Good thread... I too think Hudler and Sammy are liabilities, and it kills me to admit that, because I really love them as offensive players. I also agree with the things you wrote about Rafalski. I just can't think of somebody we could get for him, though.... On Hossa: he's a great player, no doubt, but he sucked pretty bad in the playoffs, and I'm sure we can do well in the regular season without him... I mean, even if his goals bring us 5-10 points in the standings, is that really worth the condition he puts us in (not being able to operate at all on the market)? Wouldn't it be better to get a player with less of a superstar-status, lower numbers and lower salary? Tanguay catches my eye, but I'm not sure... On the defense: all said about Rafalski. I think Lebda is expendable, and sadly I wouldn't bet on Lidstrom lasting more than a couple of years. This season he seemed a little bit on the declining route... Obviously, a declining Lidstrom is 1,000,000 times better than most defenders at the peak of their carrers, but I think we should REALLY start envisioning some post-Lids possible scenarios.

I'm devastated. I had not cried like this since I had a really serious reason for it. I even stayed away from the forum for two years, thinking that was my particular karma, but it didn't work. I can just imagine how you people feel over there, but I assure you that staying up all night for 20+ games to watch Cindy raise the cup is absolutely excruciating. I won't by myself for a couple of days...

Anybody knows what jersey number he'll wear?

I remember that game very well; that year we had a huge NHL coverage here. 11-1 with Roy swallowing the first 9. Kozlov had 4 goals, and I guess Dandenault, then in his rookie season, had a couple. Sometimes I think of it as an ironic strike of destiny: maybe if we hadn't won that game so badly, we would have won the Cup that year. Of course, we'd also have missed the 7-0 pounding of 6 years later in the WCF's

Franzen - Datsyuk - Holmstrom Hudler - Zetterberg - Samuelsson Cleary - Filppula - Grigorenko Kopecky - Draper - Maltby Ellis Lidstrom - Kronwall Lilja - Rafalski Lebda - Chelios Quincey Hasek Osgood

The only thing we need is another chance. We won't blow it again.

I'll watch; I won't get up at night to watch it or listen to it live, but I'll definitely catch up with every game the following day. I hate Pronger too much, so I'm supporting the Sens as if they were my brothers and cousins.

I congratulate the Ducks fans for having the opportunity to watch their team in the Stanley Cup Finals; since it's happened to me four times since I'm a Wing fan, I know the feeling and I friendly envy them. I really find it hard to congratuate the team, though; I think hockey deserves better. Kudos to Giguere, anyway!

Amen to that. Don't know, maybe my point of view is too European... Here we shake hands before games, as to wish the other team good luck, not after. Shaking hands with somebody whose guts you hate, and whose ass you've tried to kick through the whole series seems a bit hypocritical. It I had to teach sportmanship to my kids, I'd teach them to play the game hard but fairly. I would teach them to feel respect (as much as possible), not to pretend respect. But that's just my opinion, and who knows me knows I've never liked formalities. I don't think that's such a big deal anyway.

Make them see RED!!!! 10 downs, 6 to go, boys! GO RED WINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!