Ratbastrd

Wow, seems not much changes around here.  Team loses a game and the only possible excuse is officiating.  If this is true, I would suggest the wings learn to flop better.  Clearly that is the key to winning a series against the sharks.....LOL

To the rest who saw a fairly tight game, lets see what happens game 2, have a feeling the wings players are going to shake off the rust and come out firing.  Have a feeling this is going to be a much tighter series then last year, wouldn't be surprised with low scoring and 7 games.  Good luck guy's!

I just can't celebrate my team making the WCF for the second time in Sharks history.  I much prefer hanging around commiserating with the great fans here at LGW and discussing the storied dynasty and gold standard of hockey that is the Red Wings.

Yes, Stuart's head shot should have been called. Though I'd suggest that if Murray's had not preceded it, or at least been called, Stuie wouldn't have sought retalliation. I took the refs letting Stuart's go as an admission that they F'd up the Murray hit.

And like I say in pretty much any officiating discussion, there are always missed calls on both sides. Picking out one here and there doesn't make it even. We have seen VS announcers talking about the terrible calls in game 2. We even had Bettman come close to admitting that refs can make mistakes. This series was not called evenly.

I'm not saying that the Wings would have won. Aside from game 4, it was pretty evenly played. The Sharks capitalized better on their opportunities, but they also unfairly had more of them. I'd say the Sharks probably would have won anyway. What really bothers me though is that since we can't ever get any kind of consensus, we have no real hope of improvement.

Losers always cry about the problem, but in a biased way. Winners always say it was fair. Truth is, it's hardly ever perfectly balanced. Even if it was though, who cares? The focus should be that the officiating is terrible. It's been terrible for years, and will continue to be terrible until somebody admits that there is a problem. We should not be talking about the five missed calls on your team, and you responding with the 5 missed on ours. That's too many mistakes, and it has far too much impact on the games.

The league made such a big deal about head hits this year. Murray's hit could have been used as an example to go along with the explicit definition the league came up with. But the refs let it go, and then let Stuie's response go. Being even doesn't make it good. But you don't want to admit there was a problem, because you fear it takes some validity away from your win. The league doesn't want to admit there's a problem, because they fear cries of bias or unfair play. Only the losers talk about it, and we're easily brushed aside as whiners. So it will never get any better (at least not until we get a commissioner with some balls).

I hope it's not the Sharks getting shafted next round. Good luck.

I agree with most of you said.  I suppose I look at it a little differently.  Probably because of the way our team has always played.  The Sharks have never been an edgy team, meaning they didn't try to get away with a lot stuff.  Because of this they have never established a reputation, which in my opinion does follow teams.  

That being said, the Sharks have probably gotten the short end of many games on the score board, because they didn't take "liberties" and play the game on the edge, they gave the other team an advantage.

This year, they are playing more edgy.  They are fighting to win, where they didn't previously.  The Sharks earn a lot of calls against opposing teams playing as hard as they do on the forecheck and (I believe) because of their perceived style of play reputation for being a clean team.

Edit: I would also say a team has to be cognizant of the officiating within a game.  Pay attention to what the refs are calling and not calling.  The Wings (deserved or not) gave the officials too many opportunities to make bad calls with poor stick management, bad positioning etc.  If is looks like a penalty a poor skating official is probably going to call it.  The players have to take responsibility for this.

Anyone else hoping for an Original 6 final?  Chicago losing to Montreal or Boston would be awesome.  When was the last time there was an original 6 matchup?

EDIT:  There also isn't very much animosity toward the Sharks on these here boards.  Wings fans have never really considered them a threat and to be honest, despite the loss I bet a lot of people still don't consider San Jose as our equals.  We were angry over the reffing more than at San Jose this series, so most of our anger and disappointment is directed that way.

I honestly have nothing against San Jose as a team.  If they win the Cup, great, you guys have a good fanbase out there.  There really isn't a rivalry there.  Now, Pittsburgh and Chicago (to a lesser extent) is a different story...

Maybe that is why the Sharks won this series?  The Wings didn't give them the respect they deserved, they weren't a "threat".

So based on the points made here, does anyone think Stuart should have been called for the shot to Murray's head shortly after the Franzen no-call.  Murray's lip was shredded, guy was bleeding all over himself?  For that matter, should Stuart have received something more then a minor for the elbow to Pavelski's head?  According to the new rules that is a game misconduct penalty.

How about knocking Thornton's stick out of his hands from behind (forget the player), leading directly to your teams only score?  

I would have a lot more respect for the officiating sucks threads if the posts were at least marginally unbiased.  

Bottom line is, Sharks won by beating the Wings at their own game, which many of you gloated would never happen.

Hey Wings fans, good series, I know a lot of you are bummed but this was clearly the Sharks year to take this series.

For those complaining about the officiating and all, give it a break.  The Sharks won, not because of officiating, but because they played better, more disciplined hockey, at the right times.  Last night was the best game of the series; both teams showed up and played tough hockey.  The officials for the most part swallowed their whistles last night.  Despite this, the Sharks won, when it counted, which seals the deal.  

Either way, the Wings were one of the top 4 teams in the league this year, standings aside.  Re-tooling the team makes absolutely no sense to me.  I fully expect the Wings to be a younger & healthier team next year; making them a legitimate threat to take the cup again...   

Until then, have a great summer guy's, look forward to more of this next year!

This is their SCF.

Once they make it to the coference finals, that's enough for them as they've exceeded all expectations.

Why are you guy's so pissy?  

The Sharks are the better team right now.  I don't think the Wings lack talent, I think several key players are past prime age wise, your goalie is young and inexperienced, your guy's have taken some bad penalties at bad times.  That being said, the Wings are still a very dangerous team, just past their prime and in a transition period.  

The Sharks are doing something they have never done, fighting to the finish.  Their youth and depth combined with dedication to the game plan is working.  Give em a little credit, they deserve just a little.

Hey, just think about it... they could have been diving for years in the playoffs instead of choking all this time!

I would be almost embarrassed if my team got handed a game to them in the playoffs like last night.

Given the s***ty officiating last night, I think it was smart hockey.  Both teams acknowledged that in games like last night, you cannot give the refs a reason to make a call.  At the speed these guy's are moving, if a player get his stick up and around an opposing player, and that player falls/dives he is going to get nicked.  ***** all you want, but hooking is a penalty.  If the opposing player has such superior position on you that you need to use your stick to try to stay in the play, who are you going to blame?

I just don't understand where you guys are going with all this?

tell those ******* on the sharks that there's always soccer

... maybe we should try punching pavelski right in the head every time we come in contact with him until we get caught... then if the sharks fans say something about it we can just say that they're a bunch of whiners!

Remember Clowe skates with Pavelski, and Clowe has been known to get a little unstable emotionally.  Not a good idea.

Who's calling conspiracy here?

It was just a bad night for officiating, I don't care what team you go for. Yes there were some obvious calls on the wings, but there were also "ticky-tack" calls that should have been let go. This is hockey not Basketball.

Let the players play.

You know you'd be saying the same thing.

If the sharks were the Pens...then maybe we'd need a few tinfoil hats in here

Hey I am in complete agreement, the officiating sucked and the calls were worse then ticky-tacky.  I object to the "Shark, s are the biggest bunch of divers", "the Refs won the game for them", "the league doesn't want us to win, the refs are in their pockets" crap.  It is BS.

I have a solution for the conspiracy problem:

What do you want? You want us to give your Sharkies credit, you would be better off going to the Middle East and handing out Bibles.

You don't need to credit the Sharks but please stop blaming the win on the Refs.  The Sharks beat the Wings tonight not the Refs.

Thank you captain obvious.  

Seriously, I have been saying that for a while now.  Pavelski has been a demon out there for San Jose.  LGW was cheering him on when he was playing for team USA, and even I said that he was going to be trouble if Detroit and San Jose met.  Now, they are seeing just how good this guy is.  What a clutch player.

Problem is we are never going to be able to afford to resign Marleau if Pavs keeps playing like this.  I want to see one of those time elapsed dollar counters above his head every time he hits the ice.  Don't want to be a homer on your board, but Clowe and Seto deserve a lot of credit too, both are playing way above their previous levels.

I suppose I now is as good a time as any to bring this up.  Until your group shuts the Pavelski line down, your going to have a very hard time staying out of the penalty box and ahead in this series.  They are outworking every line you have thrown against them and getting the calls as a result.

I'm a referee so I know how hard it is, and have never blamed the refs solely for a loss, but this sharks win was solely because of bad calls, especially the bertuzzi calls, the second one led to a 5 on 3 which ruined us.  This really turns me off the NHL.  The officiating is getting worse, probably because players are diving more and more, and its hard for the refs to decipher a dive from a non dive.  Just an embarassment to the nhl this game.

Your a ref eh?  Well I guess this settles it, the Refs out skated, out hit and out scored the Wings.