JJ: Thank you for your kind words. Its all good. We are happy that she didn't suffer and is in a better place. Now if I can just convince the family to bury her with a Porsche or Bruin jersey...

Jeez Joe my condolences on your loss.

We''l keep the thread lively for you while you take care of your family.

While I'm waiting for my kids to get here so we can leave town, here's the person Tampa has to look forward to seeing again tonight:
<object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nZmEJ3mLPs0?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nZmEJ3mLPs0?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object>

Ya know it is getting to be time for us all to declare. Some of you have already but guys like me whose teams were eliminated a long time ago need to declare.

So given the truly international state of the Cup final I am ready to support the team from the lower 48, be it the B's or TB.

Well, to echo the thread title, what a game! Man, that was awesome. I stayed up until the wee hours, then couldn't fall asleep for an hour and a half! I can't wait for the finals to begin!

My prediction is Canucks in 6, only because that's what Trevor Linden said in an interview I read this morning, and he's smarter than me about hockey :)

In heaven all the games start at 7PM, as God intended.

Joe

Sorry to hear the news on the loss of your Mum. May God bless you & yours in your time of loss & sorrow. Get back to us all when you are ready & you've taken care of your family first.

Sincerely
JB

Hey flatbutt

Something tells me in the back of your mind, you just may be thinking about some form of "payback" for the 2010 Olympics hockey game. If I were in your shoes, I'd do the same. That was a great game but as someone said, "it was, after all, only one game". I sure we all agree, a best of seven is a real test of who has the better team. I also think as fans, we all want to see good, clean, & hard-fought hockey with an absolute minimal impact caused by the vagaries of the referees. If nothing else, the officiating in nearly every series has been consistently inconsistent. BTW, I think your 'nom de geurre' shows you have panache & a good sense of humour. The next couple of weeks are going to be interesting.

Cheers
JB

Sharks got screwed last night on the final icing call of the game. Boyle's shot hit Sedin in the shoulder, but they still called it icing. I don't care who wins, but I would prefer it not be on a missed call.

Canucks still would have won game 6 or game 7. I wish there was a game tomorrow.

'nom de guerre'
 

It's all fun & game until someone loses an eye, than it's a sport :):D:)

Bring it on...

If the Canucks were to win, I won't be able to boast that the Habs were the last Canadian team to win the Cup (a few full moons ago) in 1993 which is also known for being last Stanley Cup championship team to be composed solely of North American-born players.

I guess in the name of National Unity...

That wasn't the only bad call though... there were a ton of bad, ignored, missed, or just plain wrong calls that went against the Canucks. Like the penalty killing, where they put the wrong player in the box.

Or the linesman that did the blocking.

The refs were too much a part of the game, and not in a good way. The other series, you hardly know the refs are there.

It does appear the number of blown or missed calls has reached something just short of 'epidemic' proportions in this year's playoffs. A part of me wants to believe it all evens out & does not directly affect the outcome of the game. I'm also sure a number of us could point to an instance & make a valid argument to the contrary. I've heard it said: "The best officiated games are ones in which the referees are not noticed" - or words to that effect.

Cheers
JB

Let's not forget that Marleau dumped the puck in with about a minute remaining. He never looked up, because Luongo was on the bench. They should have closed the game out right there.

Hmmmm. Typo? 1993?

One more thing: Why is the national anthem televised, sometimes two? Can't they sing it at 7:50 and drop the puck at 8:02? Seriously, night after night of the same thing....why????

Sorry Jeff

It looks as though I was 'aping you' (or stealing your thought) regarding the 'ref stuff', I was late in my post. As for last night's game, my heart was in my throat after that power play on which Boyle scored off of Ballard's glove. Other than the unfortunate puck hop off Edler's stick/shin pads, for their early go-ahead goal in the third (he was caught in no-mans-land), Bobby Lou earned his money. Man, I was emotionally & physically drained after their game tying goal & on the OT goal - just about the weirdest goal I ever seen. So...who's next??

Cheers
JB

Yeah... Corrected

Nothing to be sorry about. It's worth mentioning multiple times anyway.

Any other goalies here? Roloson is driving me nuts with his flopping. Jeez! Yeah the butterfly is OK when you're screened but if you can see the puck, why drop to your knees to try and catch it over your head? That second goal would have hit him in the chest or shoulder if he had stayed on his feet.

So far Boston is in charge of this game.

That is the way goalies are taught now. It's all about statistics and tendencies. Close the five-hole by dropping, cover more of the lower net with your pads, and make them beat you with good high shot. The closer a player is to the goalie the harder it is to roof it.

Criticize if you want, but go back ten (okay maybe 20) years and look at the goals that were scored with a slapshot from the boards. It used to be common (LaFleur, Bossy, etc). It doesn't happen any more. Why? Technique is part of the answer, not the only answer, as equipment and goalies are now WAY bigger.

Jiggy won the cup for the Ducks playing that way....it's hard on the hips though and contributes to the injuries.

Tim Thomas is the odd man out in that regard, and it is one reason he is successful. The strategies that work on almost all the other goalies in the league don't work on him because he plays a different style. You shoot from reflex, you won't score as often. He is not in the same 'position' the other 29 goalies in the league would be in.

But after six games players learn, which might be an issue Friday night....