gentex

Yep, great story. Joe Sakic was really the one Av I couldn't dislike. Maybe because by the time I should have disliked him, I'd seen him play enough (on really s***ty Quebec teams) that I'd really respected his game. He was awesome, he was classy, and he really seemed like an all-around good guy. He had that god damned wrist shot and, like Stevie Y, he lead by example. He was the total package -- absolutely a guy you'd want on your team. Thanks for the memories Joe.

Yeah, I've really grown to like Bylsma. Obviously, I prefer his temperament and demeanor to Therrien's, by a long shot. Is it too late to vote for him as coach of the year? The turn around the Pens had after naming him coach is amazing. Going from 10th in the East to game 7 of the finals in just a few months is pretty damned impressive.

The cyborg talk during the Chicago series made me post this: http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.ph...t&p=1669161

Drapes in for Leino for the face-offs. Leino has played pretty well, but Drapes is a great face-off guy and that's big on the road.

Listening to Messier talk about this award during the second intermission convinced me of one thing: The NHL ginned up an award to give to Crosby this year. Messier spent all his time talking about how wonderful Cindy is and actually compared him to Gretzky. Not only is he not Gretzky, he's not even the best player on his team. He's a 30-40 goal scorer who only plays half the game -- Zetterberg or Datsyuk without the defense. The whole thing's a sham. I only wonder what Mess is getting for putting his name on this charade. FWIW, of the three candidates, Iginla should win.

That's how I saw it. I was pissed, and knew it was a penalty as soon as Ericsson made contact. I don't know if they've been letting that sort of thing go in other situations, but that was interference. The thing that annoys me more than that call is all of the other non-calls that I saw. Crosby runs around cross-checking people left and right (particularly Z) because he knows he won't get called. I saw plenty of other intereference out there that could be called, but wasn't. It's frustrating and it makes me throw things at the TV; but, that's hockey. Refs are human and fallible. They miss calls (too many men) and they can make poor judgements on calls that could go either way. Hopefully the wings put it behind them and can catch an officiating break or two in game 4.

Go, Marian, go!

Well, we may need to agree to disagree because if there was any contact with Dupuis' glove it was incidental at most. Watching that clip over and over, I don't see any obvious contact there. Would that be called a hook or a slash in the regular season? Hell, I don't know. But, there's no way that gets called in the playoffs. I mean, if Hossa had come down (or up) on the glove as the initial contact, that's one thing. But, the most that happened there is that Hossa lifted the stick and could have slid up to the glove (and, it's not even clear that that much happened). I weep for hockey the day they start calling that a penalty.

Simply not true. Check the link a few posts up. The rink-end angle is pretty conclusive to my eye -- not a slash, not a hook. A great play by Hossa.

Check this clip starting around 2:50 Hossa lifts the stick. No stick to the hands, not a hook to the body. Great play, clean check. End of story. Gentex

There is absolutely no reason for Malkin to get a game suspension for what happened at the end of the game. The instigator call was silly and Malkin wasn't out there looking to fight, or send a message. It was just a fight (kind of a sissy slap fight) between two guys working their asses off. This is the finals. People get their dander up. It happens . . . nothing to see here . . . move along. I was more concerned about the stick to the chest that Osgood took. That was more of a cheap shot than what Malkin did. But, afterward, Osgood brushed it off, so no big deal.

All this cyborg talk got me thinking . . . The tagline is a little over the top considering Nick's personality, but it's such a great line from the movie I had to use it.