Round Two Match-ups
Awesome round one so far. Had some great battles to the death (game 7) and a shocker, or not, thrown in there as well. Here is a quick recap:
Wings/Jackets – Poor Jackets had to face the Wings in their first ever playoff appearance… poor guys… got rocked like everyone expected.
Sharks/Ducks – CHOKE CHOKE CHOKE
Canucks/Blues – Didn’t expect the Nucks (or CANOOKS like Jason whatever on SportsNet calls them) to be able to deal with the Blues that quickly.
Flames/Hawks – CHOKE CHOKE CHOKE x2. Why x2? The Flames thought they locked the #3 seed in a long time ago, but choked in the regular season to lose that seed, and then again in the playoffs when the couldn’t win on the road. CHOKE CHOK CHOKE.
Bruins/Habs – Didn’t appear that the Bruins cared that it was the Habs 100th season.
Rangers/Caps – I have a lot of caps in my pool, and am not gonna lie about how many times I shat my pants during this series. Good battle, and the Rangers should throw a Rick DiPietro contract at King Henrik because he was the ONLY reason it went to 7.
Devils/Canes – Fantastinc end to 4/7 of the games, and what a shocker to end game 7.
Pens/Flyers – Didn’t see as much of this one as I wanted to, but from what I did see Fleury was playing great.
Now for round two… Out East we have the Bruins/Canes and Caps/Pens. Bettman’s wet dream with the Pens/Caps series hey? Only if it was the East final hey Gary? In the West we have the Wings/Ducks, and Hawks/Canooooks. In hopes of having an original 6 final, I’m pulling for the Wings and Hawks in the West, and Bruins out East. I’d love to see the Caps knock off the Pens too, but beggars can’t be choosers.
Anyone want to share their predictions?
Matt Walker’s Broken Finger
Holy shit, this guy must be made of the same stuff that Jason Smith, Al Iafratie, Cam Neely, etc was. Goes out there, brakes his finger blocking a shot, and then goes off to the bench with a look on his face like “I’ve eaten worse shit for breakfast. Give me a splint and I’ll be back!” I LOVE GUYS THAT HAVE HEART LIKE THIS! If you can eat pucks for breakfast and still continue in the game, you are a beauty! This is the kind of stuff that wins playoff series… not being a Pierre Mcguire “MONSTER”
Mirtle Wants Two Teams in Toronto
I usually find James Mirtle to be a good source of info about the NHL, but I had to laugh at what he wrote today on his blog about a second team landing in Toronto.
“I likely wouldn’t have said this prior to moving to Toronto, but after having lived here for six or seven years, it’s very clear that a second team in – or close to – the city would be a huge success. The demand for NHL tickets is so incredible at the moment, even with a very poor team, that the Leafs can charge whatever they please, and it’s downright impossible to get a decent seat to a game for less than $200. Many lower bowl seats sell for twice that.”
That statement alone makes me believe that Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver could also have huge success with a second team. Try and get tickets to a game in any those cities, or check out the local classifieds as I have, and GOOD LUCK finding anything at a decent price.
When the Ref Intended to Blow the Whistle
If the referee looked like this last night I’d easily forgive her, but obviously he didn’t and therefore there is no forgiveness.
So anyway, last night during the Canucks / Blues game, there was an obvious goal (obvious if you watched the replay in the slowest motion I’ve ever seen), and it was called off. The ref was standing right on top of the net and didn’t see the puck cross the line so waved it off right away. Watch the replay, and yeah the puck went in, then back out, then partially covered by Luongo, THEN the ref blew the whistle.
So I’m sitting on the couch swearing away, not because I necessarily love the Blues or hate the Canucks, but I just wanted to see a goal credited as a goal. I don’t know if CBC was just trying to play in the favor of the Canadian team in the match-up, but they kept saying “Well, it depends on when the ref INTENDED on blowing the whistle.”
WHAT THE?
I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous. Does this mean that no matter what happens in anything, I can be like, “Well, I intended to only drive 110km/h on this highway officer, not the 163km/h that you reportedly saw me going at. I’ll take a free pass on this one.”
Anyway, that was just stupid last night. Too bad that goal cost the Blues the game and the series. Next year boys, next year (maybe)!
Booing the National Anthem
Dear Montreal Canadiens fans,
You are formally being chastised by the hockey world for your ignorant and arrogant ways, most recently for booing the Star Spangled Banner last night when the Boston Bruins came to town.
Yes, you are getting your ass kicked by the Bruins, yes you may think that you need to do whatever it takes, but for eff’s sake make a sign or something to slam your most hated player on the opposing team, DON’T BOO DURING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM!
Yeah, the Boston Bruins are located in the USA, but ever look at that roster? I just did a quick count, and there are five American, fifteen Canadian, and four European born players. Take a look at the Habs’ roster and you have four American born players, including Higgins, Bouillon, Komisarek, and Schneider. Think any of them appreciated it when their hometown fans booed their national anthem?
I could go on about this forever, but instead I’ll just cut it short and let everyone else that has an opinion sound off in the comments.
In closing, all I want to say to the people of Montreal and the Canadiens fans who booed the American anthem last night, is grow up and show some class. You’re not only embarrassing yourself, but the rest of Canada.
Sincerely,
Mother Pucker
Vince Vaughn and Kyla Weber
Yeah yeah this picture isn’t from last night, but when I saw Vince Vaughn in his Chicago Blackhawks gear last night, along with his hot girlfriend Kyla Weber, I just had to throw up a picture of the couple.
Vince is obviously a happy camper being a Blackhawks fan, but his Albertain girlfriend most likely isn’t too happy with the result of the Hawk’s / Flames series so far, unless she is from Edmonton and is just being “that fan” with the flames jersey in the above photo.
Either way, nice job Vince in finding a girlfriend that appreciates the best sport in the world!
Hot Chicks in Pink Jerseys
I know there has been some debate about the pink jerseys this year, some saying they are ridiculous and others saying that they are cute. Regardless, I think they look good, and one of the most famous internet video bloggers, iJustine, rolled the cameras last night at game 1 of the Penguins / Flyers series. Don’t know who iJustine is? Here is her self bio: “New media chick, Apple fan girl and the internet. Blogger, geek, internet video producer / editor, designer, tech addict, iPhone app obsessed! I edit all of my own videos! 
”
Anyway, check out the video and tell me that the pink NHL jerseys aren’t a good thing.
2009 NHL Draft Order
In what will come as a surprise to no one, the New York Islanders won the 2009 draft lottery and are slated to pick first in the draft.
Why do I say slated? Well apparently Brian Burke in Toronto thinks that he will be able to wrestle the #1 pick out of anyone’s hands, so we’ll see what happens. I’m not sure what the Islanders would want in return for that #1 pick though as I see either of the top two prospects being franchise changing players.
Anyway, enough talk about the center of the universe (Toronto). Here is the bottom 14 draft order for 2009:
14. Florida Panthers
13. Buffalo Sabres
12. Minnesota Wild
11. Nashville Predators
10. Edmonton Oilers
9. Ottawa Senators
8. Dallas Stars
7. Toronto Maple Leafs
6. Phoenix Coyotes
5. Los Angeles Kings
4. Atlanta Thrashers
3. Colorado Avalanche
2. Tampa Bay Lightning
1. New York Islanders
Well good for the Islanders and hopefully whatever they do makes their team better. I have to admit though that I was pulling for the LA Kings a little bit so that we could get one of those kids to play out west, but I guess yet again that the top picks will head out East… East, you suck! (unless you win the cup this year).
NHL Playoff Schedule in iCal
Apparently nobody is interested in the Tiger Woods ‘09 Golf Tournament that I mentioned before, so I guess I’ll give you what I really want… the 2009 NHL Playoff Schedule for round one with TV stations included.
Thanks again to Brain Langille from The Langille Show for putting this together again. Nice work man!
Here you go: 2009 NHL Playoff Schedule for iCal
Hey There Iginla
Looks like someone in Calgary has a serious man crush on Jarome Iginla – yes, even a bigger crush than a guy I know here in Edmonton that wishes he could be on the receiving end of an Iginla fist wrist shot – if you know what I mean.
Anyway, here is the video that as of right now has 26,000 views. I don’t care which team you are a fan of, or if you like or hate Iginla, you are going to like this video in some way so click play and watch it already!
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Twitter
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