Stanley Cup

[masterfins]

I know there aren't many hockey fans on here, but with the playoffs in full swing a little hockey talk is overdue.  Great come back by the Rangers to eliminate the Penguins last night.  I'm rooting for my favorite team, The Bruins, against my second favorite team the Habs.

Who are you guys rooting for?

On a related note, the NHL really needs to push for some better TV contracts, its hard to get unless your tv package has certain channels.  High Def has made hockey a very enjoyable game to watch on tv, much more than baseball.

[Phishfan]

NBCS is still hard to get?

I'm not rooting for anyone. My team didn't make the playoffs. I'm just looking for good games. I end out seeing quite a bit of the Bruins & Blackhawks because those are the teams the owner & bartender of the place I play pool root for.

[Brian Fein]

I call shenanigans!  Any red-blooded Bruins fan cannot realistically call the Habs his second-favorite team.  They're like the Packers and Vikings of hockey.

I thought the Hawks/Wild game 6 last night was quite good.  I don't really have a strong tie to any particular team in the postseason, but I am rooting for the Hawks here on out because (a) I hate every team left in the east and (b) I don't want any team from LA to win anything ever again.

BTW - couldn't be happier for Cindy Crosbaby to watch the rest from home.  He sucks.

[masterfins]

NBCS is still hard to get?

Yeah, I don't know why, but I have this mid grade Dish network package that doesn't have NBCS or the Golf channel in it.  So I end up going out to a bar if I want to watch one of those stations.  I'm just too cheap to pay the extra $20/month to get those two stations since I don't watch them that often.

[masterfins]

I call shenanigans!  Any red-blooded Bruins fan cannot realistically call the Habs his second-favorite team.  They're like the Packers and Vikings of hockey.

Yeah, that's probably sacrilegious, but I was a Bruins fan growing up, then stopped watching hockey for awhile.  Then I built up an affinity for the Habs since I visited Montreal often.

[Brian Fein]

^^ I don't know how you do it!

[Sunstroke]

My Playoff Hockey Challenge has its finals set for Boston-LA, so hopefully that's the way the puck ricochets...

[dolphins4life]

I am a huge hockey fan and root for the Bruins

I felt this series and this season was a bad showing for my team, it's announcers, and it's fans

1) Thornton's punch of Brooks Orpik was one of the dirtiest plays I've seen in a very long time.  It reminded me of that awful knockout game.  Unexpected too, from a guy who has always followed the code his entire career.

2) The NESN commentators made some absolutely disgusting comments about the Thornton/Orpik incident, indicating that it was Orpik's fault for not fighting Thornton, and seeming to indicate that Thornton was justified in what he did because of this. 

3) With the racist tweets and the throwing of stuff onto the ice in game 7, Bruins fans didn't make themselves look good either.

[RichThrawn]

My Playoff Hockey Challenge has its finals set for Boston-LA, so hopefully that's the way the puck ricochets...

Tres Bien.   The Habs knocked out the Bruins last night so looks like only half your prediction will come true

[Brian Fein]

Thornton is one of the biggest thugs on that team, and there are a few.  But you're not at all offended by Lucic spearing guys in the junk repeatedly?  That's OK to you...?

Racist tweets are disgusting and have been happening from Bruins fans AND Rangers fans.  When Wayne Simmonds beat the Rangers (game 4 I think?), the twitter response from Rangers fans was absolutely disgusting.  I thought Bruins fans were above that, but apparently I was wrong.  Is it a shock to Bruins fans that PK Subban is "pretty good" at hockey?

All that said, I am shocked that the Bruins lost.  I thought, on paper, they should have easily romped the East.  But, that's why the games aren't played on paper...

The Kings/Ducks game last night was amazing, too.

Those of you not watching the NHL playoffs are doing yourselves a disservice.  2nd round, 3 game 7's and one game 6.  Now that the Heat series is over, watch tomorrow night's Kings/Ducks game 7 and tell me you aren't enthralled.

[Phishfan]

I thought Bruins fans were above that, but apparently I was wrong. 

You must have forgotten for a moment that they play in Boston.

[EDGECRUSHER]

Rangers with an incredible comeback that had everything to do with St. Louis' Mother passing away after Game 4. It seemed to put a focus on hockey and only hockey for the whole team. No outside distractions of contracts and buyouts, just hockey.

That being said, they still deserved to lose Game 7 if not for Henrik who has somehow become the greatest Game 7 goalie in history. Even I was surprised by the records he was setting in Game 7's.

The Habs are a good fit for them hockey wise, but they cannot win in the Bell Centre. I think Lundqvist has a GAA over 3 there and has never won. So, they will have to overcome long odds to advance to the Finals. It would be nice if Rick Nash showed up in a game or two.

[mboss]

I think the Blackhawks got what they wanted....their opponent coming out of a brutal 7 game series, extra rest and home ice in the WCF.

[RichThrawn]

Rangers with an incredible comeback that had everything to do with St. Louis' Mother passing away after Game 4. It seemed to put a focus on hockey and only hockey for the whole team. No outside distractions of contracts and buyouts, just hockey.

That being said, they still deserved to lose Game 7 if not for Henrik who has somehow become the greatest Game 7 goalie in history. Even I was surprised by the records he was setting in Game 7's.

The Habs are a good fit for them hockey wise, but they cannot win in the Bell Centre. I think Lundqvist has a GAA over 3 there and has never won. So, they will have to overcome long odds to advance to the Finals. It would be nice if Rick Nash showed up in a game or two.

Turns out the Rangers can win in the Bell Centre, and win big.

[EDGECRUSHER]

Yeah, that was ridiculous. The Habs completely fell apart and started taking stupid penalties and just didn't seem prepared. Even their first goal was a complete fluke that maybe shouldn't have been allowed because the puck went into the netting but play was still allowed to go on.

The Rangers played their game and the Habs didn't. Things got so bad that even Rick Nash scored a goal. Talk about humiliating.

This will not happen again. The Habs will come out on fire for Game 2. Not saying they will win, but there is virtually 0% chance they put up this kind of performance again.

St. Louis buries his Mother tomorrow and the whole team will be there, so that could be a boost or a letdown heading into the next game. Martin doesn't want the playoffs to ever end, because once it does he has to sit down and deal with the situation.