hockey

[vanfragmeter]

Cool I have red rep... my e-karma really steers me in life...

To what everyone else has said, yes Detroit has had more success than the Hawks, yes their success is looked up upon by many teams, not just in the NHL. The Hawks are rebuilding, they are young and currently successful. They finally are figuring out some combinations that work and yes we ALL know it has taken a while. To the man they call Stayhandsome (cool huh? i can do that too), I actually am a fan of Detroit, a big fan actually, through my current years and past years of playing hockey I have always been. My favorite player is Nicklas Lidstrom, one of IMO the greatest defensemen ever, I look up to him greatly. If I have to choose 1 team to cheer for in the playoffs it will be the young underdogs, the Hawks.

This "new breed" of hockey fans is bullshit, however. They only reason this breed if you wish to call it that is here is because of their recent success and they are rowdy, like Cubs fans. They come from the same goddamn city. To put down fans like that is just straight disrespect. Sorry there are fanboys of the Hawks playoff success... oh wait thats any team in any sport that has gone from shit to good because of coaching and player turnover. Go look at any other franchise that is going through or went through the same thing.

All you want to hear is omg Detroit this Detroit that, pointint out history of what WAS and not what IS... lemme tell you thats all that matters at this point. Doesn't matter how many playoff games this dude has played vs. another. Its about team chemisty, overcoming obstacles and getting through a long hard playoff series and moving onto the next. All players in the NHL have experience, they wouldnt be there if they didnt.

[WayneGibbous]

am i the only person who thinks the Carolina/Boston series is the one to watch? way more entertaining than the other three but it gets totally lost in the shadow of Syd vs. Ovechkin errr Pens vs. Caps

[stayhandsome]

Yo guy. I'm having trouble finding anything solid in your verbal diarrhea. Some might say sharpen a pencil if you need a point but I guess attacking something so petty as my user name just shows how in tune you are with the Chicago fan base and their mind set. Jeers over cheers.

My user name btw came from a tag on the wall in a Moz video. Nothing serious.

Also those polo glasses you are selling are butt ugly. They look more bro-life than lo-life to me.

[my gym shorts]

50 minutes until ducks/wings

if carlyle decides to use hiller again and keep giguere on the benchh

hahaha i'll keep it in mind never to follow a ducks season again

[vanfragmeter]

This is a hockey thread, not a oh cool hes selling what I think are ugly sunglasses thread.

Im sorry you have nothing else to say, you should probably do another one of those [insert whitty, but useless lines like sharpen your pencil here] ideas.

EDIT: the reason i said the username was cause you did the same to me. guess ur the one thats "in tune with the chicago fan case and their mindset" huh?

Go Hawks.

[stayhandsome]

you can't even spell witty you fucktard. as a result i'm blind to anything else you have to say.

EDIT: I enjoyed the wings game last night. I thought the ducks were going to bring it hard in the 3rd but the wings did a good job at letting Hiller know that he is a young goalie. Datsyk still goaless but that play he made last night from behind the goal (flipping it over to land in front of Hiller so he could bash it in) was ill. It is nice to see them flying like they were this time last year. Helm is somebody to watch and there are a lot of scouts doing so. Hope we do not lose him in the off season.

Tonights game should be good out east. I heard that Russians have been waking up at 3 a.m. to watch the matchup.

[vanfragmeter]

And you cant spell Datsyk or goaless. Datsyuk, Goalless, get it?

Good.

[Guest Eternal811]

Bruins stayed alive! NO!

[vanfragmeter]

back to washington for the 7th, nice back and fourth game there.

hawks up 2-1 a few minutes into the 2nd.

edit: now 3-1 half way through 2nd.

[vanfragmeter]

just sick game for the hawks vs. canucks. so entertaining back and fourth... great hattrick for kaner first in hawks playoff history in 15 years. hello conference finals!!

heres a little something for my friend:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wchH7xL4tdE

[vanfragmeter]

Nice elbow after the game by Niedermayer on Datsyuk.

Datsyuk - take your gloves off next time haha

[35percent]

Anaheim is the new colorado for me.

[stayhandsome]

We'll see about tonight.

The ducks are one of the only teams that manage to always spoil it for the wings come the post season.

Datsyuk needs to break the fuck out.

[jake431]

The Ducks have been the spoilers this post season - being the 8 seed it's hard for them not to be - but the Red Wings at home should be a cakewalk. Still, you never know. Maybe if someone kills Pronger early on, that will lock it up.

[35percent]

Wings need to almost kill pronger again...

[my gym shorts]

end of the 2nd, 2-3

ducks are taking NO shots

not even during pp

[SCDL]

Ducks tied 3-3 with the Red Wings in the 3rd.

[vanfragmeter]

should be a great conference final! chicago detroit bloodbath for sure.

will be very entertaining to say the least.

I think stayhandsome will enjoy this picture:

CHEERS

[stayhandsome]

Last nights RW game was good. Nothing beats a close game seven. I was happy with how the game was called last night. Very few BS calls and It was good to see the winning puck shoved in by Cleary who obviously pushed the goaltender into it. That just goes to show how some calls can win or lose you a game.

I DO like that picture! Those winter classic jerseys are amazing. Last time Detroit and Chicago met in the playoffs it was 1995 and the good guys took it 4 - 1. These teams have changed almost completely since then so we'll have to wait and see...

[jake431]

The Hawks will be using this years Winter Classic sweater (minus the patch, which I hate anyway) for their third "alternate" sweater next year.

The current black version of their regular red home and white away sweater will be retired.

[stayhandsome]

that is cool. i liked the wings striped socks. nobody but R&B singers look that good in white.

[stayhandsome]

oi oi defending champs.

The ducks put up more of a fight in each game than the hawks did in game 1.

In that series not a single game was won by more than two goals.

Did you see that new commercial with a blackhawk shooting an octopui out of his way and saying something about new traditions ending the old traditions? Fools gold. I enjoyed hearing the blackhawks players interviews after the game talking about the red wings cute little plays and what not. I guess waiting for scraps on poor percentage shots is a superior method!

[jake431]

Quenneville is obsessed with matchups. He has to get the line he wants on the ice against the other team's line. Because a player like Kane is basically useless in his own zone, he might be best served shuffling the lines a bit and cutting the kid's ice time, or running him out there against someone other than Datsyuk and Zetterberg. Maybe he could have Toews center Havlat and Sharp. But the way Detroit's top line plays puts the Hawks in a quandary, and it's not like their other lines are slouches, either. That first goal they scored yesterday? That was Dan Cleary, former Hawk, and a third-liner. That was a spectacular goal. He took the puck from Seabrook at the Detroit line, accelerated past Keith in the neutral zone, and got all of a nasty wrister that Khabi didn't have a chance in hell of stopping. That's not a third-line play. They may just have too much firepower for the Hawks. We haven't seen a team like this in the playoffs. Not even close. Vancouver looked pretty good against us and they couldn't hold a candle to this Wing team. But really, to put it simply, matchups be damned, the Hawks take care of the puck like they did yesterday, this series will be a sweep. They cannot be as careless with it as they habitually are against a team like this, because Detroit will score every single time.

And they need to go after Osgood. He's a different goalie in the playoffs, but overall, he isn't real good. It's a potential weak spot. He was awfully good yesterday, but he'll give up rebounds. Someone just needs to be there to put those rebounds in.

But, they need to, as far as I can see, introduce a little more control to their game. Their game is wide-open, end-to-end, lotta scoring chances, sometimes too fancy. They need to simplify. They need to stop playing dump-and-chase so much and reduce the overall speed a bit. Get the puck into the Detroit zone and keep possession of it. Detroit's not a real physical team. The Hawks aren't so much either, but they should be able to do that without getting their clocks cleaned. Then, you get the fucking thing to the net. Get a big guy to park his ass in Osgood's face. He isn't real good. He plays way above his head because it's the playoffs, but overall, he's the worst goalie still in the playoffs.

[jake431]

Their bigger problems are defensively, especially as they relate to taking care of the puck entering, or trying to enter, the Detroit zone. They need to ratchet up the physical aspect defensively. Those are good, solid players, not small, with a lot of skill. The Hawks need to knock a few of them on their asses, and they need to play it a little closer to the vest to limit the turnovers, because those will kill them against this team. And because, like I said earlier, of the combination of skills some of their players possess, and the problems that can create for the Hawks, guys like Kane, who isn't real valuable in his own end, may have to see limited ice time. Ditto a loser like Cam Barker, who is strictly an offensive defenseman. As painful as it might be for the faithful, Patrick Kane is pretty much strictly an offensive player. He was one of only a handful of guys on the entire team who finished the year a minus. It's not entirely his fault. It's difficult to establish a menacing defensive presence when you're listed at 5'10", 160, and in reality, you're probably more like 5'7" or 5'8" and about 145. Play him on the power play. If you get a line matchup you like where you can sneak him out there, do it. You can't just sit him. But you can't run him out there against their "third line" because it isn't really a third line. Gotta pick your spots. Campbell has finally started to earn his money a bit. Seabrook played great in the first two series, but looked fucking terrible yesterday. And Keith has been very, very disappointing in the playoffs. He needs to do what we all know he is capable of doing, because when he does, he's a total shut-down guy. When he and Seabrook are out there and on their game, it can only be, at worst, an even shift. There will be no minus shifts with those two if they're on. If they're not, it's going to be a very short, very painful series.

[stayhandsome]

If the Chicago team plans on doing anything this has to be the year. Havlat, Keith and Bulin are up for grabs as of July 4th and Toews and Kane will be free agents come next summer. When you factor in the salery cap and how much these players are going to be worth with how they are performing shits not going to look good for the tribe. And Versteeg is a restricted free agent who is coming off of working for peanuts.

This salery cap was supposed to be the nail in the coffin for the Detroit dynasty but we have already earned one cup since and a second is looking real good considering Hossa jumped ship from our eastern conference competition to play for less money.

I love seeing Cleary and his success. He only played a half a season in Chicago who drafted him and was then traded for lack of productivity. The wings picked him up and developed him in their program to be one of the top players this postseason. We also picked up Draper for $1, found Datsyuk by mistake and farmed all of our youngsters from late round drafts to an early prime.

[jake431]

The Hawks are gonna lock up Kane and Toews for a long time. Khabi will be gone though.

[35percent]

Jake - You're right, Osgood is the worst top ten goalies of all time (tied with 10th place w/ hasek for all time regular season wins). He's also one of 9 goalies to score a goal, and has his name on the stanley cup 3 times. Yep, not really good at all. Not trying swing on his nuts, but it annoys me when people say he isn't really a good goalie.

* Member of the Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings - 1997, 1998, 2008 (starting goaltender in 1998 and 2008)

* 2 time winner of the William M. Jennings Trophy (shared with Mike Vernon - 1996), (shared with Dominik Hasek - 2008)

* Is currently 10th all-time in wins by an NHL goaltender

* Played in

o 1996 NHL All-Star Game

o 2008 NHL All-Star Game (Named starter by Red Wings and Western Conference head coach Mike Babcock)

* Named to NHL Second All-Star Team after 1995–96 season

* Named to WHL East Second All-Star Team after 1990–91 season

* Led NHL in GAA in 2008 (regular season 2.09 & playoffs 1.55)

* Led NHL in Wins in 1996

* Scored a goal vs. Hartford Whalers, March 6, 1996.

* First goaltender since Terry Sawchuk to win Stanley Cups ten years or more apart as a starter (Sawchuk in 1955 and 1967)

Stayhandsome - Cleary's snap shot was beautiful, and the new traditions commercial would be fine, except for the ending old ones part. While we're at it let's get rid of throwing our hats on the ice after a hat trick of the handshake after a series, good idea eh?

The game was awesome to watch, I think Babcock wants it to be less wide open, but it was fun to watch, lots of hits, end to end action, and the refs were letting them play. Cleary's two goals were great, and in game 7 helm's goal showed he's ready for the NHL.

[jake431]

I never said he was a bad goalie - he's simply the weakest of the 4 goalies remaining.

[Guest Eternal811]

I'm predicting these teams in the Stanley Cup: Carolina Hurricanes and the Detroit Red Wings. Canes beat the Pens in 7 to get there and the Red Wings beat the Black Hawks in 6 games to get there. Red Wings repeat as Stanley Cup Champs and beat the Hurricanes in 7 games.

[35percent]

"he isn't real good."

Osgood has his ups and downs, but in the clutch he's great. He made a great save early on in game 7 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EonMbvcRVo

I also snagged this shirt for $6 , got outbid by a dollar on a probert shirt because I wasn't home for the end of the auction