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NHL - January 2009

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Czech, how are the Blackhawks supposed to be held to a championship standard? Sure, they have talent, but I fail to see why they should be held to such a standard when they haven't been that good in a while.

This. They've won ONE PLAYOFF GAME IN ELEVEN YEARS! This isn't the 1990 Bulls trying to get by Detroit here (no matter what Costas said on the pregame), it's a young team trying to learn how to win together. And they've been pretty damn good at it this year, getting to fourth in the conference and within range of the defending champs. Sure, they got overwhelmed by the stage and didn't have much after the first period, but this is still one of the best stories to come along in years, and putting such unrealistic expectations on them right now is just silly. Just enjoy the big picture and don't sweat the bumps in the road.

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I'm going to be biased here, but after the first period, this game sucked. Something had to be wrong with the ice or something because I have never seen so many pro players falling on the ice like that. It was watching pee wee hockey early saturday morning.

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So LOLbarbara made 30 saves and allowed just 1 goal. I thought he sucked?

One game is everything!

 

Really though, I don't care. Nashville lost, we're fighting for the 8th spot, so it's good. When we have two goaltenders with far superior numbers than him, the proof is in the pudding. He sucks.

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Guest Czecherbear
Czech, how are the Blackhawks supposed to be held to a championship standard? Sure, they have talent, but I fail to see why they should be held to such a standard when they haven't been that good in a while.

This. They've won ONE PLAYOFF GAME IN ELEVEN YEARS! This isn't the 1990 Bulls trying to get by Detroit here (no matter what Costas said on the pregame), it's a young team trying to learn how to win together. And they've been pretty damn good at it this year, getting to fourth in the conference and within range of the defending champs. Sure, they got overwhelmed by the stage and didn't have much after the first period, but this is still one of the best stories to come along in years, and putting such unrealistic expectations on them right now is just silly. Just enjoy the big picture and don't sweat the bumps in the road.

They fired Savard and brought in Quenneville because they felt they could begin contending this year. That's from Bowman. By "championship standard," I just mean they should be playing like one of the 16 of 30 teams that compete for a Stanley Cup, and giving up after one period is not that. They're young, but they're not kids, if that makes any sense. By all accounts, Toews and the rest are mature beyond their years, Campbell is no rookie, nor is Huet. They weren't expected to go "oh golly! Look! A game! Outside! Against Detroit! Gee whiz!" They beat the Red Wings several times last year!

I'm going to be biased here, but after the first period, this game sucked. Something had to be wrong with the ice or something because I have never seen so many pro players falling on the ice like that.

Thiiiiiiiiiiissssssssss. The Hawks came out guns a-blazin', knocked Cleary head over feet, the fourth line scored, there was scrapping and yelling and playoff intensity and then after the intermission it was just kinda like "well THAT was fun" and they slept through the rest of the game. Huet is too awful to earn $7,000,000 right now, by the way.

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Joel Quenneville was brought in to win? He's been to the conference finals once in nine playoff appearances. With talented teams too. Brett Hull and Al MacInnis were heading those St. Louis teams back in the day. Quenneville could never seem to figure out how to beat Detroit then either. He's a shit coach with a poor reputation with goalies, something I said when they hired him. Their effort today reeked of poor coaching. A good coach doesn't let them skate (pun intended) with that little effort for two full periods. As talented as the Black Hawks think they are, they're not good enough to coast on talent. They need a system, something Quenneville has problems implementing. You can blow out the Oilers and Dogs all you want, they struggle with talented teams and seem destined to try and win the 6-5 or 5-4 game. You can't play those games and win anything. They have depth with defensemen but all of their defensemen struggle with FUNDAMENTAL defense, something good teams like Detroit exploit every single time. They lack top notch DEFENSIVE defensemen, which is why they struggle and have to rely on Kane, Taves and the like to score as much as possible. Plus, Quenneville handles goaltenders like live grenades and Chicago's goaltending situation is tough to begin with.

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I wasn't sure where to put this so I guess this is the right spot.. The Slovakia goalie in the World Juniors is playing out of his mind right now. The US is out shooting Slovakia something like 30-10 yet Slovakia is winning 3-1 early in the third. Pretty entertaining stuff.

 

Edit: US just scored a key goal and it was pretty funny to hear the crowd get completely deflated after the goal. Definitely check this game out if you can.

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And the US goes home early.

 

I agree with you Czech about Huet. When he was playing with Montreal he played well, because Halak was retooling his game and didn`t have pressure against losing his job. Last season, when Price emerged, Huet played ok, but always let in soft goals. His game rides on confidence and it shows.

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I wasn't sure where to put this so I guess this is the right spot.. The Slovakia goalie in the World Juniors is playing out of his mind right now. The US is out shooting Slovakia something like 30-10 yet Slovakia is winning 3-1 early in the third. Pretty entertaining stuff.

 

Edit: US just scored a key goal and it was pretty funny to hear the crowd get completely deflated after the goal. Definitely check this game out if you can.

 

I saw that. Apparently Hasek decided to stop possessing him by the time the Russians started playing, though.

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Well, I'm leaving for Kings/Flyers in a half hour or so. My friend likes to get there early, and besides, while LA is normally only an hour drive, traffic on a Saturday night can be unpredictable. Should be fun, anyway.

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The Bruins LOST?!

 

Claude Julien's recent obsession with PJ Axelsson has left me scratching my head. He's been seen on the top powerplay unit, making it Savard-Ryder-Axelsson up front. This leaves little time for Krejci, Wheeler, Kessel, Lucic or even Sobotka, all of whom are better offensive players than Axelsson. I guess it's moot with the powerplay being top 5, but Axelsson's strength lies in PK.

 

Ward may have hurt himself again today. Bring Lashoff baaaaack up. Their defensive depth has been remarkable this season.

 

Chara, Wideman, Ward, Hunwick, Hnidy, Ference, Stuart, Lashoff. All eight of them have done very well. Chara is quietly having a Norris worthy season.

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Chara is quietly having a Norris worthy season.

 

Even quieter, I'm finding, is how many goals Kessel is racking up.

 

 

Oh my God, what a game in Ottawa tonight between Russia and Canada. Eberle's goal with 5 seconds to play is already flirting with hitting my top 10 sports moments ever.

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Quick is a good name for a goalie. A good name for a good goalie. Glad we don't have some fat tub of goo in net giving up bad goals every period.

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Wow... they really homered it up with the all-star starting line-ups for the East: 4 Canadians and 2 Penquins.

 

I mean seriously, no Ovechkin in the all star starting line-up?

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I got back a short while ago from the Kings game. What a great time. I've been to many ECHL games this season, but none of them could compare to seeing the Kings play the Philadelphia Flyers in the sold out Staples Center.

 

I was up in the 300's, but I had a perfect view of the ice. My seat was right in between the blue lines, with the center line basically being parallel to my groin, LOL. It was an awesome game. The Kings struggled in the first period and part of the second, but came back to make it a very competitive game.

 

It ended up going to overtime tied at 1 goal a piece. No one scored in overtime, and in the shootout, Frolov and brown scored to give the Kings the victory. It was their first in 6 games wearing the alternate jerseys. Jon Quick, who has a 0.79 GAA and .969 save percentage in his last 5 games, looked amazing, stopping a penalty shot and saving what would have been a sure goal by trapping it between his legs behind himself while on his belly.

 

We were seated above the commentators' area, so we had a direct view of Bob Miller and Jim Fox. I actually saw Miller talking to someone right outside the entrance to our section while I was returning to my seat during the second intermission.

 

I got some really good pics, but they're on my friend's camera. I'll share those when he uploads them.

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These Senators make me want to cry. Three blown one-goal advantages lead to an eventual OT loss to the Devils. DFL in scoring, DFL in the Northeast and 11 points out of a playoff spot. It's astounding that this team was playing Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals 19 months ago today.

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Craig Hartsburg better have the classifieds handy.

 

Cherry was all over it last night; any one see Crosby pound Brett McLean Saturday afternoon? Sid's right to be frustrated - they have no policemen left, and they're now on the outside looking in.

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Crosby dropped his gloves on the faceoff and took a cheap shot at a guy who wasn't ready. You can be frustrated...but don't be a faggot.

take it easy with the homophobic slurs, ghost of bps

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Russia just beat Slovakia 5-2 in the bronze medal game of the World Junior Tournament. Can't say whether or not it was a good game, as I only saw period number 3. The gold medal game between Canada and Sweden (the latter featuring LA Kings forward OSCAR MOLLER~!) airs on NHL Network in the U.S. and TSN in Canadaat 4:30 Pacific/7:30 Central. I'll be doing/watching other stuff, so I'm recording that for later. Also, the Penguins play the Rangers on Versus in about an hour.

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this is a great game for kigns fans. on the canadian side, they have the defensive pairing of thomas hickey and colton teubert to watch, as well. the kings defense looks to be locked down for the next 5-10 years.

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This is a great game for Kigns [sic] fans. On the Canadian side, they have the defensive pairing of Thomas Hickey and Colton Teubert to watch, as well. The Kings defense looks to be locked down for the next 5-10 years.

 

Kings.

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This is a great game for Kigns [sic] fans. On the Canadian side, they have the defensive pairing of Thomas Hickey and Colton Teubert to watch, as well. The Kings defense looks to be locked down for the next 5-10 years.

 

Kings.

you got some nerve, bob

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