Hockey Playoffs Approach

[caroljane]

If you guys were thinking of invading Canada, today would be a good day to do it. It is NHL Trade Deadline Day, which obsesses the nation and gets blanket media coverage. Nobody would notice the foreign occupation until Wednesday at the earliest.

I will not bother watching , as the only trade that would help the Leafs would be Rick Nash in exchange for the stiffening corpse of Coach Wilson and that is not likely to happen.

[caroljane]

Nothing even happened. Oh well,hockey fans, there are still two dates in season to look forward to according to DownGoesBrown:

April 11: NHL playoffs begin

April 12: NHL playoffs end for whichever team has to play the Red Wings.

Back to looking for timeshares in Columbus. Might have to move there fulltime, but masochism is not that advanced yet.

[Selene]

The team with the best record in the NHL...

The New York Rangers...have just defeated some simpering team from Ottawa, wherever the hell that is, four (4) goals to two (2) goals in the first game of the Rangers cruise to the Stanley Cup...

Adam

[Brant Gaede]

I finally found out that to enjoy hockey, watch the skating, not the puck.

--Brant

too late for me--save yourselves!

[Selene]

I finally found out that to enjoy hockey, watch the skating, not the puck.

--Brant

too late for me--save yourselves!

Correct. Like basketball and soccer, the movement away from the ball will determine what happens.

[Dennis Hardin]

How about those eighth-seeded LA Kings--up 3-zip over the Canucks! Wow!

Time for me to become a hockey fan for a few days.

(I doubt the fantasy will last more than a few days. . .but who knows?)

[caroljane]

How about those eighth-seeded LA Kings--up 3-zip over the Canucks! Wow!

Time for me to become a hockey fan for a few days.

(I doubt the fantasy will last more than a few days. . .but who knows?)

Go for it Dennis - the few-day fantasy could become a lifelong dream.

Who would have thought at season start, that outside of the Canucks the one and only Canadian team in the playoffs would be the lowly Senators. I have never had eny enthusiasm for them.I spent four years in Ottawa and it is my least favourite city. But I have to root for them now, because just as most of the NHL revenue is generated by the Canadian teams and spent amongst the American ones, so is the fanblood.

I don't like the excessive physicality of the playoff openers. Stopp hitting each other on the head, guys.

It's interesting that although few OLers care, or even are aware of hockey, each of these few has a team in the playoffs except, well, me. I don't even have my 2nd or 3rd favourites. But I will cast off the sackcloth and ashes of the neverending Lent of Leafs Nation to salute you and the Kings, Dennis. ; Aristocrates and the Predators) he said they would make it and he was right; Ninth and his plastic rat catchers;PDS and the Wings ; Brant and the Arizona Whatstheirnames; and Adam, who gloated too soon-- but cheer up; Hillary C has bet our Foreign Minister on the series, and if worst comes to worst, you will get to see her decked out in Republican red

[caroljane]

Here's one for Rangers fans - "The Ottawa Senators decided that it would be fun this year to suffer a crushing defeat from a different

Original Six team>"

-Downgoesbrown

This from our own Ontario hockey columnist.

We're bitter here, I tell you.

[Selene]

Here's one for Rangers fans - "The Ottawa Senators decided that it would be fun this year to suffer a crushing defeat from a different

Original Six team>"

-Downgoesbrown

This from our own Ontario hockey columnist.

We're bitter here, I tell you.

My NY Ranger fans are already prepared for us to choke after the OT loss in game two (2).

Apparently, the refs have lost total control over the ice in the Philadelphia - Pittsburg series.

[caroljane]

Here's one for Rangers fans - "The Ottawa Senators decided that it would be fun this year to suffer a crushing defeat from a different

Original Six team>"

-Downgoesbrown

This from our own Ontario hockey columnist.

We're bitter here, I tell you.

My NY Ranger fans are already prepared for us to choke after the OT loss in game two (2).

Apparently, the refs have lost total control over the ice in the Philadelphia - Pittsburg series.

Here's one for Rangers fans - "The Ottawa Senators decided that it would be fun this year to suffer a crushing defeat from a different

Original Six team>"

-Downgoesbrown

This from our own Ontario hockey columnist.

We're bitter here, I tell you.

My NY Ranger fans are already prepared for us to choke after the OT loss in game two (2).

Apparently, the refs have lost total control over the ice in the Philadelphia - Pittsburg series.

What is happening to the attention span of fans? Leafs fans have suffered 43 years of degrading ignominy, but the majority never say die. Fickle New Yorkers are doomsaying after one playoff loss?

I agree that the Pens and Flyers are out of control, it is far too soon for this kind of discipline loss (or calculated thuggery) and neither team will do well if they keep on in this vein, whoever wins this round.

That said, after two weeks of computer woes I have descended to the Hanson Bros. method of machine repair with this coelacanth I am typing on. It's the only thing it understands.

[Selene]

Here's one for Rangers fans - "The Ottawa Senators decided that it would be fun this year to suffer a crushing defeat from a different

Original Six team>"

-Downgoesbrown

This from our own Ontario hockey columnist.

We're bitter here, I tell you.

My NY Ranger fans are already prepared for us to choke after the OT loss in game two (2).

Apparently, the refs have lost total control over the ice in the Philadelphia - Pittsburg series.

Here's one for Rangers fans - "The Ottawa Senators decided that it would be fun this year to suffer a crushing defeat from a different

Original Six team>"

-Downgoesbrown

This from our own Ontario hockey columnist.

We're bitter here, I tell you.

My NY Ranger fans are already prepared for us to choke after the OT loss in game two (2).

Apparently, the refs have lost total control over the ice in the Philadelphia - Pittsburg series.

Fickle New Yorkers are doomsaying after one playoff loss?

For Ranger fans it was the eternal banishment from the Stanley Cup until recently.

1993–94 Stanley Cup: the ending of the curse

The 1993–94 season was a successful one for Rangers fans, as Mike Keenan led the Rangers to their first Stanley Cup championship in 54 years.^[2] Two years prior, they picked up center Mark Messier, a part of the Edmonton Oilers' Cup-winning teams. Other ex-Oilers on the Rangers included Adam Graves, Esa Tikkanen, Craig MacTavish and Glenn Anderson. Graves would set a team record with 52 goals, breaking the old record of 50 held by Vic Hadfield.

[caroljane]

Here's one for Rangers fans - "The Ottawa Senators decided that it would be fun this year to suffer a crushing defeat from a different

Original Six team>"

-Downgoesbrown

This from our own Ontario hockey columnist.

We're bitter here, I tell you.

My NY Ranger fans are already prepared for us to choke after the OT loss in game two (2).

Apparently, the refs have lost total control over the ice in the Philadelphia - Pittsburg series.

Here's one for Rangers fans - "The Ottawa Senators decided that it would be fun this year to suffer a crushing defeat from a different

Original Six team>"

-Downgoesbrown

This from our own Ontario hockey columnist.

We're bitter here, I tell you.

My NY Ranger fans are already prepared for us to choke after the OT loss in game two (2).

Apparently, the refs have lost total control over the ice in the Philadelphia - Pittsburg series.

Fickle New Yorkers are doomsaying after one playoff loss?

For Ranger fans it was the eternal banishment from the Stanley Cup until recently.

1993–94 Stanley Cup: the ending of the curse

The 1993–94 season was a successful one for Rangers fans, as Mike Keenan led the Rangers to their first Stanley Cup championship in 54 years.^[2] Two years prior, they picked up center Mark Messier, a part of the Edmonton Oilers' Cup-winning teams. Other ex-Oilers on the Rangers included Adam Graves, Esa Tikkanen, Craig MacTavish and Glenn Anderson. Graves would set a team record with 52 goals, breaking the old record of 50 held by Vic Hadfield.

Here's one for Rangers fans - "The Ottawa Senators decided that it would be fun this year to suffer a crushing defeat from a different

Original Six team>"

-Downgoesbrown

This from our own Ontario hockey columnist.

We're bitter here, I tell you.

My NY Ranger fans are already prepared for us to choke after the OT loss in game two (2).

Apparently, the refs have lost total control over the ice in the Philadelphia - Pittsburg series.

Here's one for Rangers fans - "The Ottawa Senators decided that it would be fun this year to suffer a crushing defeat from a different

Original Six team>"

-Downgoesbrown

This from our own Ontario hockey columnist.

We're bitter here, I tell you.

My NY Ranger fans are already prepared for us to choke after the OT loss in game two (2).

Apparently, the refs have lost total control over the ice in the Philadelphia - Pittsburg series.

Fickle New Yorkers are doomsaying after one playoff loss?

For Ranger fans it was the eternal banishment from the Stanley Cup until recently.

1993–94 Stanley Cup: the ending of the curse

The 1993–94 season was a successful one for Rangers fans, as Mike Keenan led the Rangers to their first Stanley Cup championship in 54 years.^[2] Two years prior, they picked up center Mark Messier, a part of the Edmonton Oilers' Cup-winning teams. Other ex-Oilers on the Rangers included Adam Graves, Esa Tikkanen, Craig MacTavish and Glenn Anderson. Graves would set a team record with 52 goals, breaking the old record of 50 held by Vic Hadfield.

And the Oilers, the most deserving of all, still aren't in it! Oh, gall and wormwood!

[Selene]

3:35 gone in the 3rd -

Ottawa 0 Rangers 0 - what a game!

[Selene]

Rangers GOAL

1-0 Boyle @ 7:35 of 3rd

[caroljane]

Ouch, ouch all over.

[Dennis Hardin]

How about those eighth-seeded LA Kings--up 3-zip over the Canucks! Wow!

Time for me to become a hockey fan for a few days.

(I doubt the fantasy will last more than a few days. . .but who knows?)

Go for it Dennis - the few-day fantasy could become a lifelong dream.

Who would have thought at season start, that outside of the Canucks the one and only Canadian team in the playoffs would be the lowly Senators. I have never had eny enthusiasm for them.I spent four years in Ottawa and it is my least favourite city. But I have to root for them now, because just as most of the NHL revenue is generated by the Canadian teams and spent amongst the American ones, so is the fanblood.

I don't like the excessive physicality of the playoff openers. Stopp hitting each other on the head, guys.

It's interesting that although few OLers care, or even are aware of hockey, each of these few has a team in the playoffs except, well, me. I don't even have my 2nd or 3rd favourites. But I will cast off the sackcloth and ashes of the neverending Lent of Leafs Nation to salute you and the Kings, Dennis. ; Aristocrates and the Predators) he said they would make it and he was right; Ninth and his plastic rat catchers;PDS and the Wings ; Brant and the Arizona Whatstheirnames; and Adam, who gloated too soon-- but cheer up; Hillary C has bet our Foreign Minister on the series, and if worst comes to worst, you will get to see her decked out in Republican red

Thanks, Daunce. Actually, I think hockey can be very entertaining to watch. I love it when everybody gangs up in front of the net and the goalie has to twist himself six ways from Sunday to keep that little sucker from getting through. Being a goalie is probably about the most depressing job in all of sports. He can stop that elusive little puck 999 times out of a 1000 and everybody calls him a loser.

I often get the hockey bug around this time of year, if the Kings make it to the playoffs, which isn’t that often. Making it to the second round is unheard of in LA. If they ever won the Stanley Cup. OMG! We would have such an identity crisis, the ERs would overflow and the psych couches would be booked for a year!

If you like underdogs, adopt the Kings as your substitute favorite playoff team for 2012. They’ve got to be the all time hockey underdog, and deservedly so. Some warm wishes from Canada wouldn’t hurt. They need all the salutes they can get.

[caroljane]

OK, if neither Ottawa nor Van get through, I will help expedite the psychic crisis by supporting the lotuslanders.

You are right about goalies. It is firmly believed by coaches that there is a "goalie personality" - probably this is as provable as "cops can tell when somebody's lying", but there is plenty of anecdotal evidence. Hockey has the most conservative culture of all pro sports, and the team mentality is so strong even amongst the showboats, yet the keeper must perforce be an individualist out there. Jacques Plante incurred revulsion and contempt (except from me and my father, who admired him) by adopting the face mask back in the days when to have any teeth or fewer than 40 seams and scars on your face, was the mark of the girly-man in hockey. And Tim Thomas certainly defied the unwritten code recently.

In soccer, my husband would routinely reject kids with great physical goalie skills because they didn't have the "personality".Of course he as a millwright sports psychologist was an expert. But if you had known as many 9 to 13 year old goalies as I did, you would start to think he was onto something.

My alltime great goaltender hero was Ken Dryden, Mr. Imperturbable. The images of him leaning on his stick between plays, demonstrably keeping his head when all about him (the all being the entire population of Canada) had long since lost theirs, are indelible.

[Dennis Hardin]

You are right about goalies. It is firmly believed by coaches that there is a "goalie personality" . . . Jacques Plante incurred revulsion and contempt (except from me and my father, who admired him) by adopting the face mask back in the days when to have any teeth or fewer than 40 seams and scars on your face, was the mark of the girly-man in hockey. And Tim Thomas certainly defied the unwritten code recently.

To heck with skill, has he got a martyr complex?

Does he like to burn himself with matches, hang from the rafters by his fingernails, or, better yet, play toss with kitchen knives?

“Damn, son,” said the hockey coach. “I just saw you dive head first through that glass door and then walk back out again, just for the excitement. How are you on skates?”

[Selene]

At UVM, Thomas was a blue-collar kid who “always marched to the beat of his own drum,’’ said the coach, Mike Gilligan. “He always spoke his mind and didn’t always fit in, but everybody respected him.’’

An English major, Thomas was particularly impressed by Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged,’’ an ode to rugged individualism in a society faltering under an overbearing government. He took full advantage of his scholarship, never lagging academically and graduating on time.

“He never acted entitled, like a lot of college athletes,’’ Gilligan said. “He fought for everything

http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins/articles/2012/04/12/bruins_goalie_tim_thomas_a_champion_of_underdogs/

[caroljane]

Dryden was the same as a student athlete, excelling academically at (I think) Boston U and going on to become a lawyer and author. And then politician ..though a liberal one. Maybe Thomas will follow his pattern. Although goalies don't like to follow anybody else's pattern except their own.

[caroljane]

You are right about goalies. It is firmly believed by coaches that there is a "goalie personality" . . . Jacques Plante incurred revulsion and contempt (except from me and my father, who admired him) by adopting the face mask back in the days when to have any teeth or fewer than 40 seams and scars on your face, was the mark of the girly-man in hockey. And Tim Thomas certainly defied the unwritten code recently.

To heck with skill, has he got a martyr complex?

Does he like to burn himself with matches, hang from the rafters by his fingernails, or, better yet, play toss with kitchen knives?

“Damn, son,” said the hockey coach. “I just saw you dive head first through that glass door and then walk back out again, just for the excitement. How are you on skates?”

You are right about goalies. It is firmly believed by coaches that there is a "goalie personality" . . . Jacques Plante incurred revulsion and contempt (except from me and my father, who admired him) by adopting the face mask back in the days when to have any teeth or fewer than 40 seams and scars on your face, was the mark of the girly-man in hockey. And Tim Thomas certainly defied the unwritten code recently.

To heck with skill, has he got a martyr complex?

Does he like to burn himself with matches, hang from the rafters by his fingernails, or, better yet, play toss with kitchen knives?

“Damn, son,” said the hockey coach. “I just saw you dive head first through that glass door and then walk back out again, just for the excitement. How are you on skates?”

You want martyr complex? Dryden was GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs!!! Then he went into politics, where the public scrutiny and abuse are probably less.

[caroljane]

Sens lose, Canucks on the verge of elimination at the manicured hands of LA...

there is a curse upon the land!!

But what about those Panthers- best game of the playoffs so far for my money. Coming back from 3-0 to win.

[caroljane]

Canucks - Senators - fingernails - holding on -

[caroljane]

Uh, Senators 2 Rangers 0

Wings are fried.

just saying.

[caroljane]

Fabulous net pyrotechnics from Craig Anderson and Jose Theodore.

I am hoping it will be Ottawa vs. Florida in the next round because Panthers have been the underrats, everyone was predicting the Devils would sweep them.