The 2007 Stanley Cup Finals

[Guest George's Box]

You have to factor in the fact that folks can have more than one favorite team that they can support especially when it's so damn hard to get tickets to Leafs games. Ideally, if a team does move to Southern Ontario then you keep them in their current division that way you have a "Toronto" team in each conference.

That does nothing to alleviate the very real problem of the Maple Leafs rarely coming to Chicago and Detroit. I think the Hawks went like three and a half years between hosting the Leafs. That's supposed to be a rivalry, don't you think? Original Six teams in the Great Lakes region? What a concept.

[Vigo 0]

That would probably scare the Leafs a lot, too. Having another team come into 'their' territory and winning a Cup. It probably wouldn't hurt them too much on the bottom line, but that's a big shot to your pride, especially with the Sens possibly winning this year.

 

I don't care much for the Leafs so personally I would find that scenario hilarious.

 

You have to factor in the fact that folks can have more than one favorite team that they can support especially when it's so damn hard to get tickets to Leafs games. Ideally, if a team does move to Southern Ontario then you keep them in their current division that way you have a "Toronto" team in each conference.

That does nothing to alleviate the very real problem of the Maple Leafs rarely coming to Chicago and Detroit. I think the Hawks went like three and a half years between hosting the Leafs. That's supposed to be a rivalry, don't you think? Original Six teams in the Great Lakes region? What a concept.

 

Well, that's a scheduling issue, which probably will be fixed once the league gets past this three year cycle that they wanted with the schedule. The issue will be brought up after this upcoming season and hopefully enough teams vote to change the schedule.

[CanadianChris 0]

Ideally, if a team does move to Southern Ontario then you keep them in their current division that way you have a "Toronto" team in each conference.

That would be terrible for them. Imagine all the travel, and being nearly completely cut off from their obvious natural rivals. I think having Detroit in the West is ludicrous as it is.

[Vigo 0]

Ideally, if a team does move to Southern Ontario then you keep them in their current division that way you have a "Toronto" team in each conference.

That would be terrible for them. Imagine all the travel, and being nearly completely cut off from their obvious natural rivals. I think having Detroit in the West is ludicrous as it is.

 

Well, then say you leave them in the Eastern conference for the time being and try to balance the teams out whenever the NHL decides to expand to 32 teams, which probably isn't too far away. Giving an expansion team to say Kansas City gives you one team in the Western Conference and then say a team somewhere in Oregon or Winnipeg and you've got yourself a balanced league.

 

The travel thing is not a big deal. The Western Conference teams travel plenty and if the NHL ever decided to go back to the schedule they had before the lockout then you'll have a little more balance in that department as well.

[Guest George's Box]

Ideally, if a team does move to Southern Ontario then you keep them in their current division that way you have a "Toronto" team in each conference.

That would be terrible for them. Imagine all the travel, and being nearly completely cut off from their obvious natural rivals. I think having Detroit in the West is ludicrous as it is.

Why aren't Chicago and Detroit "obvious natural rivals" of Toronto? They're in the Great Lakes area and have been playing each other since the goddamn beginning of time. Though the Senators rivalry is big, it's obviously comparably new, and they went about 20 years without the Habs and Sabres in their division. I kind of like the idea of Habs and Leafs, the big two teams of French and English Canada, being limited to two games a year, as they were in the NHL's 1980-1994 heyday. As for Detroit being in the West, what's so ludicrous about that? I mean, the Leafs were in the Campbell/West until '99, and the looooong and arrrrrrrduous travel didn't prevent them from 99 points and reaching the conference finals two years in a row, now did it?

 

One option might be to have the Original Six as a division of its own. Hawks-Blues never meant a hell of a lot to me anyway.

[LaParkaMarka 0]

If a new NHL team can't succeed in the most populous area of Canada, it's not going to succeed anywhere. Besides, it's less about people becoming fans and more about corporate support, and a lot of businesses in southern Ontario could get behind a new team. Can't say the same for Winnipeg.

 

Edit: Plus, the new owner is the CEO of one of the more successful corps in Ontario. RIM will probably throw a bunch of money at a new Ontario team, which is a huge boost right there. They won't do the same if the team is located in Kansas City or Winnipeg.

[Guest George's Box]

Okay. Hamilton, in addition to its arena problem, is too close to Buffalo and Toronto. Waterloo-Kitchener is too small, and too close to Toronto. Man, Canada sucks. Way to put your whole damn country in one little sliver between Buffalo and Detroit. Just make it a 51st state called Niagigan.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Slayer's Box has returned.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Hawks-Blues never meant a hell of a lot to me anyway.

 

When has anything Hawks related meant anything to you?

[Guest George's Box]

I treasure my signed hockey stick, thank you.

[Slayer 0]

Slayer's Box has returned.

He is right though... you've got a wide open space right up there in central Canada begging for a team to come back and yet people want to stick a team in an already saturated region

[CanadianChris 0]

Gary Bettman's pretty feisty on the pregame show tonight.

[CanadianChris 0]

This is just brutally bad ice. It looks like they're skating through sand.

[Guest]

It got hot over the weekend. Really hot and it's gonna stay that way.

[CanadianChris 0]

Having the ice show last weekend couldn't have helped, either.

 

1-1 after 1. Ottawa got outplayed pretty badly over the last 10 minutes, at least. They don't seem to be adjusting well to the poor ice conditions -- too many clearing attempts that were either missed or easily intercepted by the Ducks.

[the max 0]

Ice is bad, I'm recording this game and watching it in ten minutes tomorrow before work.

 

We can't wait for Game 3 to hear the Canadian anthem sung by Ottawa fans. Are they going to be as loud as Edmonton's were last year? The girlfriend says no. I say yes.

[treble 0]

I'm not sure how much better the ice will be in Ottawa, I've heard it's supposed to get really humid up here in the next few days.

[CanadianChris 0]

We're supposed to get a thunderstorm Thursday or Friday, so I'm hoping that'll clear things up a bit. I'd prefer Thursday over Friday, since I'm golfing at Prescott Friday morning.

 

A much better second period by Ottawa. Emery looked sharp when he was actually in the net. If the shot from centre had gone in on the two-man advantage, though, he'd never hear the end of it.

[Guest Vitamin X]

So much for that, eh, Emery?

 

And I was hoping for overtime here.

[CanadianChris 0]

They just flat ran out of gas. Nothing more complicated than that.

[mike546 0]

What a freaking save to save the game.

[iggymcfly 0]

Really good entertaining game there. It's too bad the Senators couldn't pull it out, but it's not too surprising playing on the road after such a big layoff. I'd expect them to come out a lot sharper in Game 2, and I think they still have a great chance to win the Cup.

[AntiLeaf33 0]

I think the fact that the Sens can make a game of it and stick around, despite playing a pretty poor game (except for about 10-15 mins of the second period, and the opening 10 minutes) has got to be encouraging for them moving forward. Emery was as good as he had to be (though I'd say he wants that Getzlaf goal back) and I think this team can really give the Ducks a run for their money.

[Guest Queen Leelee]

Really good entertaining game there. It's too bad the Senators couldn't pull it out, but it's not too surprising playing on the road after such a big layoff. I'd expect them to come out a lot sharper in Game 2, and I think they still have a great chance to win the Cup.

A "big layoff" is not an excuse for losing. Besides, the Ducks had quite the wait themselves. Stop making lame excuses.

 

iggymcfly - 2 point infraction.

[iggymcfly 0]

Back and bitchier than ever, eh? You don't have to be jealous just because Ottawa made Buffalo look like a junior league team. Buffalo's still got..... uh....... well, I guess they haven't won anything ever. Never mind.

 

Anyway, it is a well known fact that teams tend to be a little rusty after a 9 day layoff. Three to four days rest is probably optimal, so yes 7 days is a lot better than 9. Home advantage is also somewhat helpful, so given that both of those factors were working in Anaheim's favor, I expected Ottawa to have their worst game of the series in Game 1 and wasn't surprised when Anaheim pulled it out.

 

That's pretty basic logic and I don't need to "make excuses" because I still think Ottawa has a great shot to win the series. If anything, it might make an eventual Senators win more exciting to go down a game to begin with rather than just rolling in 5 games like they did against everyone else.

[KGB 0]

Back and bitchier than ever, eh? You don't have to be jealous just because Ottawa made Buffalo look like a junior league team. Buffalo's still got..... uh....... well, I guess they haven't won anything ever. Never mind.

 

Anyway, it is a well known fact that teams tend to be a little rusty after a 9 day layoff. Three to four days rest is probably optimal, so yes 7 days is a lot better than 9. Home advantage is also somewhat helpful, so given that both of those factors were working in Anaheim's favor, I expected Ottawa to have their worst game of the series in Game 1 and wasn't surprised when Anaheim pulled it out.

 

That's pretty basic logic and I don't need to "make excuses" because I still think Ottawa has a great shot to win the series. If anything, it might make an eventual Senators win more exciting to go down a game to begin with rather than just rolling in 5 games like they did against everyone else.

 

Spoken like a true Sens fan. When you get to that many days off, I don't having an extra 2 off over the opposition makes a difference. And Buffalo (much as I hate them and their fans MORE) still has won about as much in their history as the Sens, you guys haven't won the Cup yet.

[CanadianChris 0]

They just flat ran out of gas. Nothing more complicated than that.

 

Or, Ottawa lost to the better team. At least, the better goalie.

 

CanadianChris - 6 point infraction.

 

Sens drop game 1, and right on cue, the Ottawa fans come out making excuses for the loss. If there's one thing I've learned over the past seven years, it's that Ottawa never loses to the better team.

Since this really belongs in this thread, how am I making excuses? They played a bad third period and lost. It's not like they played an amazing period of hockey but couldn't get anything done.

[LaParkaMarka 0]

She already got banned guys, you're arguing with no one.

 

And Buffalo (much as I hate them and their fans MORE) still has won about as much in their history as the Sens, you guys haven't won the Cup yet.

 

The original Ottawa Senators won the Cup 4 times. Do they have banners up for those four teams?

[treble 0]

Yes.

[KGB 0]

They do have banners up for the Stanley Cups won by the original Senators (I didn't know myself how many; I do know that the original team won the Cup 10 times in total, including pre-NHL era). There is no Cup banner yet for the current Sens franchise though.

 

CC, I guess I mistook your comments earlier or something and it didn't help that I saw it in the context of crazy ol' Leena's post. You usually seem to be a more level-headed Sens fan anyway. Yet I see many other Senator fans acting like they're a dynasty in the making, something that annoyed me every single time the Leafs went up against them in the playoffs in the past.