The 07-08 National Hockey League thread

[SkyePrizm]

Staal had an incredible game tonight.  One more to go!!!

[booztravlr]

That guy Avery seems like a deuche. Face guarding Brodeur in game 3 then bitching about a no call late in the 3rd period last night in a tied game! He\'s lucky they scored shortly afterwards because he blew a chance at the go ahead goal. I hate players that bitch at the refs/umpires. Just stfu and play the game.

How about the Predators? Wow. Those games have been great so far. I\'d love to see Detroit go down in the first round.

[kindm's]

That guy Avery seems like a deuche. Face guarding Brodeur in game 3 then bitching about a no call late in the 3rd period last night in a tied game! He\'s lucky they scored shortly afterwards because he blew a chance at the go ahead goal. I hate players that bitch at the refs/umpires. Just stfu and play the game.

How about the Predators? Wow. Those games have been great so far. I\'d love to see Detroit go down in the first round.

I might agree with you if he ever got a call. The only time Avery ever gets a penalty called in his favor if it is so blatant that the ref cannot ignore it.

The officiating in the NHL is terrible.

The Refs ignored so many blatant penalties and then called chicken shit stuff. It really looked like the refs were not calling stuff against the Devils on purpose. I don\'t normally claim a bias but holy crap they missed some really easy calls. Open ice trips etc

Hell even the penalty against Madden was total BS. They should have called the trip and or the cross check just prior to that call against Madden. He did not hold the man going in to the boards. I want the Rangers to win but a fair game should paramount.

The NHL really needs to get on the officials

[Yoda]

If he wasn\'t such a punk/goon, maybe he would get a call from time to time.

[kindm's]

If he wasn\'t such a punk/goon, maybe he would get a call from time to time.

Perhaps. Goon ? I wouldn\'t call him a goon.  Agitator definitely, punk most definitely.


cough Claude Lemieux cough


Oh and how did that loss taste ?

[Yoda]

I never like Claude, so I have no issue with calling out Avery.  I think he is a punk, because he does everything in his power short of knocking someone over to draw a penalty, but when someone does the same to him, he goes right to the ref and complaigns.

Do I like losing to the rangers, no, but realize that if the rangers win, they\'ll either get Montreal or Pitt and that will be the end of the cup run.

[kindm's]

I never like Claude, so I have no issue with calling out Avery.  I think he is a punk, because he does everything in his power short of knocking someone over to draw a penalty, but when someone does the same to him, he goes right to the ref and complaigns.

Do I like losing to the rangers, no, but realize that if the rangers win, they\'ll either get Montreal or Pitt and that will be the end of the cup run.

So you don\'t call out Brodeur for his diving ?

And several other Devils doing the same last night trying to draw calls.

And the king of complainers Sidney Crosby.

I was really hoping that Ottawa could put together a stronger series. Pittsburgh has walked all over them. Boy did they fizzle this season. I would have picked them t win the east at the beginning of the season. They just imploded.

Oh and how about Nashville ? I love any team that makes to folks in Detroit sweat. Detroit is f-ing awesome but now it is only a 3 game series.

[Yoda]

The Rangers did their fair share of complaigning and Brodeur was banged up a lot without any calls going against the rags, so no, I\'m not going to call out Brodeur.

[kindm's]

The Rangers did their fair share of complaigning and Brodeur was banged up a lot without any calls going against the rags, so no, I\'m not going to call out Brodeur.

HOMER!

Actually they did call goal tender interference. On sojstrom when he got pushed in to Brodeur, vame up with a cut face and they called him.

Not to mention the Devils checked the stick out of the goalies hands which "should" be an automatic interference call, which also lead to a goal.

And they complained because the refs were basically trying to hand the game to the Devils. The goal should have been dissallowed, There was no interference call when the Devils tripped Gomez which would have been a break away, not to mention the non call on the icing at the end of the game which almost cost the Rangers, the several too many men on the ice missed calls as well. Not sure which game you were watching but...

[Yoda]

You\'re right, I am a homer.  What fan isn\'t happy when the calls go their way.  Don\'t make it seem like the rangers haven\'t had any calls go their way.  

I really hate when the devils play the rangers in the playoffs because the series usually swings one way or another (in recent years).  The rangers are up this series, we swept you last year.  But ranger fans tend to make this their stanley cup and we never hear the end of it.  

While I\'m ranting, I\'m sick of the same argument which usually goes like this.  

- Devils suck
- Rangers suck
- At least we don\'t have our parade in a parking lot
- At least we\'ve won 3 cups since your last cup
- At least we sell out the garden
- At least it didn\'t take us 54 years to win our last two cups

I\'m sick of it.  That\'s why I pray that these two don\'t meet in the playoffs.  It\'s the same reason that I don\'t like the Yanks and the Sox or the Yanks and the Mets playing each other in the playoffs.  I know, this makes me a lame fan, but I like to enjoy the game without all of the drama of local rivals.

[kindm's]

You\'re right, I am a homer.  What fan isn\'t happy when the calls go their way.  Don\'t make it seem like the rangers haven\'t had any calls go their way.  

I really hate when the devils play the rangers in the playoffs because the series usually swings one way or another (in recent years).  The rangers are up this series, we swept you last year.  But ranger fans tend to make this their stanley cup and we never hear the end of it.  

While I\'m ranting, I\'m sick of the same argument which usually goes like this.  

- Devils suck
- Rangers suck
- At least we don\'t have our parade in a parking lot
- At least we\'ve won 3 cups since your last cup
- At least we sell out the garden
- At least it didn\'t take us 54 years to win our last two cups

I\'m sick of it.  That\'s why I pray that these two don\'t meet in the playoffs.  It\'s the same reason that I don\'t like the Yanks and the Sox or the Yanks and the Mets playing each other in the playoffs.  I know, this makes me a lame fan, but I like to enjoy the game without all of the drama of local rivals.

Well I bet you, like us have been tense as hell during this series. I really think both teams are trying to give their fans heart attacks. Constant nail biting. No team is ever really in a safe lead. Critical mistakes by both teams etc etc. It has made for great TV viewing tho. It really is a great series. Now if only Boston was able eek out some wins (I know, but a guy can dream)

[Yoda]

The bottom line is that the Devils need to make a change.  I think that Sutter is a good coach, but I think that Johnny Mac should have gotten the job.  The bottom line is that we need to take a different approach and not rely so heavily on the dump and chase and we really need to start thinking about who\'s going to take over when Marty retires or can\'t play anymore.  He\'s getting older, but the devils brass doesn\'t want to admit it - Marty\'s more guilty than anyone.

[Wolfman]

Get A Penalty Box!!!

[kindm's]

Nice Win last night!!

[tyzack]

Two things happened last night:
1.) The Bruins figured out that in order to win you need to put the little rubber disk into the back of the net.

2.) Carey Price should that wonderful as he is, he is a rookie.

...I don\'t want to say this because it might jinx them, but Montreal and Boston played a series in 2003, one team - lead by a rookie goalie - was up 3 games to 1. The other team rallied and won in 7.