I'm a mess

So it continues.

My #1 team will never win. Sorry, Sabres. However, my other teams have no problems winning. (See Devils, New Jersey; Red Wings, Detroit) So it only follows that the Blackhawks, Chicago, are right there with them and tonight's game. The 'Hawks have quietly snuck (sneaked?) their way in to my fandom in the last few years.

I'm very excited for them, for the city of Chicago and several of my dear friends who are diehard Blackhawks fans. :) My boy Sharpie will have his name on the Cup now. YAY!

The Flyers, as gross as they are, made it a great series. It was a fun way to end the season. Well done, guys.

The Stanley Cup makes me cry. I don't know if I have cried watching the Cup presentation before. I *wanted* to cry that first season, back in 1994, when the evil nasty Rangers tore my heart out but I couldn't cry. I was just.. empty. (the void is still there, by the way. Pavel Bure never won a Cup) In the years since, I have seen teams that I love win the Cup several times, but never my one true love and never my #1 team.

All that being said, I'm happy for the Blackhawks and I cried for them. I cried for the guys that made it and all those that didn't. **speaking of, did y'all see Jeremy Roenick crying on the post-game? Poor guy. I always liked JR, he was a great and entertaining player. He had a wonderful career but never won a Stanley Cup so I know he was hurting tonight.

I don't know why I'm so weepy. Lord Stanley IS beautiful though. I like what Mike Emrick said- "They work so hard for a ring that will be so gaudy they won't wear it everyday, and for their names on a trophy they can't keep. But they will not forget this night or these feelings."

Damn straight, Doc. Thanks, and we'll see you again next season.

*****ANd now, a few notes:
-Danny Briere looks HOT with a playoff beard and a black eye. Yeah, I said it.
-If I never have to see Scott Hartnell's ugly mug again, it will be too soon.
-Congrats to Jonathon Toews on the Conn Smythe trophy. There is some talk that it maybe shoulda been Kaner, but it's all good. At least it was someone from the WINNING team!
-I love how we only got about 2 seconds of Gary Bettman. *phew. He's so lame. And he looked like a hobbit next to Toews when he was presenting the Cup.
-Sharpie got #3 star of the night on the Daily Line show after the game. yay! He had 11 goals and 11 assists during the playoffs. Brilliant. I love that man.

....and I say that's about it. I'm off to bed. G'night.

yep.

So this here is a sorta live-blog about Game 2. Well it is live and it's sort of a blog. I'm watching the game and playing bejewled blitz on facebook. LOL I am stupidly addicted to that game. :)

Some thoughts on the game so far..

-Will the announcers PLEASE get off of Carcillo's jock? I swear you'd think Sidney Crosby was playing they way they keep talking about him. The dude is a punk (go figure, he's a Flyer) and woo.. he's playing. Get. Over. It.

-Chris Pronger is nasty. (go figure, he's a Flyer)

-Patrick Sharp has a sexy playoff beard. (duh)

-It's LOUD in Chicago. I was there for a regular season game.. and it was loud then, I can only imagine how wild it is there tonight. :)

-I love John Madden. At least if he couldn't be a Devil anymore, he went to a good team. :)

*not hockey but* That Inception movie looks insane.

-I know he's a nasty Flyer, but I always enjoyed Ian Laperriere- he's a feisty, fun kind of player to watch.

-Diggin the "Pronger Sucks" chant. Haha.

-Sorry, fell off the wagon there a bit. 2-0 Blackhawks after 2. I like it!

-When they showed the Stanley Cup during a commercial lead-in, OF COURSE they'd have to focus on the 1996 Avalanche names. EWWWWWWWW. (and yes, only I would notice that..)

-Thank you, Adam Burrish for your awesome trash talking skillz. Much amusement. Even though it's 2-1 'Hawks now.

-Where are Kane and Toews?

-C'mon Chicago.. Philly has really been on in the middle of the period here.

-Oy vey what is the obsession with Claude Giroux? I mean really, guys. He's good, he's versatile, WE. GET. IT.

-Whaa... Sharpie hit the post on the empty-net attempt? Or did it just go wide? I couldn't tell and I'm on the bad tv with no dvr-rewind option..

-C;mon Blackhawks- 20 secs left.. y'all got this. :)

And there it is. Hawks go up 2-0 in the series. Sweetnesssssss. :)

perhaps, perhaps, perhaps

Wow so maybe I should comment on the coming Stanley Cup Finals. If you recall back before the playoffs started, I made my predictions. I had Buffalo (hahahahaahahaaa) and CHICAGO playing for Lord Stanley. At least I got one right. I was terribly off on my picks, only getting one team right past the first round in the East, and 2 in the West. Yet somehow I picked the right team to come out on top in the West.

And really, I don't even want to talk about the East because the Flyers are repulsive. They are just GROSS. If they win I might throw up. Besides, I already liked the Blackhawks so it's easy to cheer for them.

So without further ado- GO BLACKHAWKS! :)

and so on and so forth

Well.. 2008-09 is in the books. Someone had to win, and it wasn't the Red Wings. It was a good series and a good game though. The Wings just couldn't pull it out this time.

I can't watch much more because it's going to become a Cros-fest here any minute- oh wait, Malkin won the Conn Smythe? Good for him. (thankgoodnessitwasn'tSID!)

Well I can hear people chanting "Geno! Geno!". That's a bit strange
Alas, it wasn't the first time and surely won't be the last that *my* team didn't win the Cup- (Stanley, Kelly). It sucks but oh well. It's still so pretty.

Wow mad booing for Bettman. I read a cool article from The Hockey News about how they should change the presentation of the Cup. I like his ideas.. what do you think?

I'm outta here. Time to go translate some 100 year old family letters and poetry.. written in French!

Ruminations on Game 7s

I told you about my last game 7, have I told you about my first? I guess we can re-visit that on Sunday the 14th, which is the anniversary of the end of my first hockey season.

Since I started watching hockey in 1994, there was the 7 game series that hurt me to the core, then there were 4 sweeps in a row, then two 6 game series, a seven game series, a five game series, another seven gamer, a five game (of which I did not watch a single game- 2007- the only season since I've watched hockey that I did not see a single game of the finals- and then last year's 6 game series.

Dunno what all that means except I want a Red Wings win. I busted out my old scraggly Red Wings t-shirt that I've been wearing for 12 years.. it worked its magic last year in game 6- maybe it will do the same this year. :)

see you on the flip side.

appropos of nothing

I don't have much of an update. I will admit to being a bit of a slacker on the finals this year. It's not that I don't care, because I do- and I like the Red Wings but my actual life has taken a turn for the busy so I've had less time to devote to hockey lately. Now, if it were the Sabres, I'd MAKE the time, but since it's the Red Wings and I don't care about them quite as much, they tend to fall by the wayside a little.

Game 5 was great. Game 6, not so much if you're the Wings. But game 7s are fun. I remember the last game 7 of significance for me- that would be back in 2003- when it was the Devils. Oh man my roomie and I had a good time with that. It was finals week of our senior year of college and we were a bit stir-crazy, to say the least. We made a Devils food cake, decorated some army men to look like Devils players (numbers, names et al) and sent them on a "duck hunt." Then we made a sick Devils banner out of an old sheet and some (sadly, washable so I had to take it inside when it rained) paint to hang off our balcony. I bought some Devils horns and wore them all night and to the grocery store later when they won. It was grand. My only issue was with Marty (or any of the Devs) NOT winning the Conn Smythe. The worst injustice ever in the history of hockey as I know it. I'm still seething.

Meanwhile, that was a great night, and the outcome was most desirable. I only hope that tomorrow is much of the same. :) Let's Go Red Wings!

Oh and here are some pics of the Devils party-



hehehehehe

blahs

Yick. Sid and Geno scored goals tonight? Grr. Guess Pittsburgh wants to make this a series afterall. oh well, if they win tonight, we are guaranteed at least 6 games and more hockey is really never a bad thing, ya know?

Wow Babcock looks PISSED. I just turned the game on late in the 3rd so I haven't seen much of anything. For some reason I just wasn't that into watching the game tonight. We had rehearsal for my new play (the one that I co-wrote!) so that was cool, plus there's been a boy on my mind lately so hockey (even though it's the Wings, a team I love) has been pushed to the wayside a little bit.

I missed it yesterday but I do have a hockey SAB for you fine folks tonight. The idea came from a comment that Frostee made over in her blog. Enjoy. See y'all for game 5.



-Henrik Zetterberg of the Red Wings

AND



-Actor Jake Gyllenhaal

Two lovely gents. I'm diggin on it. Separated at Birth? YOU be the judge. ;)

May I please say again that Crosby's facial hair is super creep-tastic? GRRRRROOOOOOSSSSSS!

whinge

Oh whine whine whine the boards at the Joe are lively. It's not like it's a new arena.. you have played there before Pittsburgh (and apparently turned down a chance for an extra practice Friday). That's why it's called home ice advantage.

The first Wings goal was a bit lucky, it kinda sneaked past Fleury. The first Penguins goal was a little fluky too- Osgood played the puck but it didn't bounce off his stick like he thought it would and he couldn't recover. Great heads-up play by the Fedotenko to put it in. Such is hockey.

The second Wings goal was just putting it on the net and seeing what happens. One of the oldest rules in hockey- put the puck on the net. The boards had nothing to do with it as the puck bounced of a flailing Fleury. And as for the third goal, that was some sick hand-eye coordination by Abdelkader, and you can't take anything away from him for that.

So quit yer bitchin, Pens and go play game 2.

Also, I'll say that the Wings may have gotten lucky when Zetterberg covered the puck that was on Ozzie's back- I don't think anyone could tell if he had closed his hand on it or not (it would have been a penalty shot if he had)- and I doubt the ref even knew where it was. However, the Penguins got a bit lucky when Helm had that breakaway- Gill should had gotten a hooking or slashing penalty when he chopped at Helm but the refs turned a blind eye and Detroit didn't bitch. Gill definitely interfered with Helm's shot and possibly prevented a goal, but I don't think it was legal. It's a moot point but if you look at the game, the refs were letting things slide a bit.

Osgood was amazing, especially on the Malkin breakaway and Sid's little spin-o-rama- he had some help from Rafalski there too. Ozzie owns. :O)

I love the Wings. They are so unbelievably poised and calm. I really noticed it in the later parts of the Chicago series, when the 'hawks were running around their own zone, but it was still in evidence against the Pens. They look unshakable and it's really neat to see hockey played with such precision. (not something we saw much of in Buffalo LOL) That's not to say that the Red Wings don't make mistakes, but they don't get flustered easily and that makes a world of difference.

GO Red Wings! I say they win it in 5.

I smell rematch

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a Stanley Cup rematch- for the first time since 1977 and 1978 when Boston and Montreal faced off two years running. For the record, the Habs won both series.

I am (obviously) cheering for the Red Wings. I may have flirted with the Blackhawks, and come to love them a little more than was seemly, but the Wings are still my boys, as they have been for 15 years. Plus I really don't like the Penguins so unless it was the Ducks or Sharks in the West (excuse me while I laugh) I would be pulling for the western champ for sure!

And now it's time for this week's Hockey SAB- a day late but better late than never. I am proud to say that I came up with this one on my own, but upon researching for pics, I am not the first person to make this comparison. LOL

Also, if anyone can tell me who Chris Kunitz looks like, that would be great. He is familiar but I can't place him.

Anyway on to today's SAB:



-Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin

AND



-Ty O'Neal or Dwayne from The Mighty Ducks 2 and 3.

Separated at Birth? YOU be the judge.

I can't stop laughing.

I know I have spoken of this before, but I really love Chris Osgood. Just wanted to point that out... again.

And one more thing before I go- what is up with the schedule for the Finals?
Game 1- Saturday May 30
Game 2- Sunday May 31
Game 3- Tuesday June 2
Game 4- Thursday Jun 4
Game 5- Saturday June 6
Game 6- Tuesday June 9
Game 7- Friday June 12

WHAT THE HECK? What happened to one day between games? This is all over the place jacked up. LAME.

gaaaaame 4

Yo.

Why must Pierre McGuire yell all the time? He annoys me.
The City of Pittsburgh is actually kinda pretty. I like all the bridges.
Whoa Lidstrom is missing some teeth?
The dudes in the Dockers commercials are kinda hot.
By the way, that hit from Hal Gill on Holmy in game 3 was pretty ugly. The contact wasn't the issue, but Gill took his stick and upended Holmstrom and that was NOT necessary.

Eww Pittsburgh scored 3 mins into the game. Oh well, there is plenty of time.

I would like the Wings to win tonight so they can have the 3-1 lead, then let the Pens have #5 so we can have 6 games and 'Nee can see one.

Double Eww they are bustin the Ossssgooood chant. Rude.

I don't like that Edge shave gel stat about the team who scores first winning every game but one. That's no good. C'mon Detroit, break it!

*I really like this running commentary blog thing. I should do this more often. Good thing my sis has a laptop. *

Yay Detroit scored! 1-1

WHAT? WHAT? FLeury is one of the Dockers impact players? HIs record is 1-2, he has a GAA of 3.00 and his save % is .865. Not exactly great. WTF homies? You jsut couldn't find anyone else from Pittsburgh besides Cros and you wanted to be fair? Madness. Idiots.

Whoa the dude in the Heinken light commercial is HOT!

It's MICHEL Therrien! YOU IDIOTS! And will you please leave him alone while he's coaching?!?!?!

Oh my gosh I hate the camera angle that's like under the jumbotron or whatever. that's a horrible way to watch hockey. thank goodness they switched it back to the right way.

Detroit has been a little back on their heels this game. They aren't pressuring the way they had in games 1 and 2 and parts of game 3. They need to get with it!

oooooh wow Crosby picked up a new stick when his broke? Whooooa how revolutionary! Who would EVER have thought to do that? Give me a break. It's not rocket science.

Detroit we HAVE to be ready for rebounds cuz McFleury is leaving some JUICY ones out there. Jump on that fellas!

Wow this 4-on-4 is bustin. And where is Malkin these days? He has been absent for the whole final. And when they show him, he looks totally drugged out. What gives, Geno?

Why are they re-making the Incredible Hulk again? They just did that like 4 or 5 years ago. 2003 it was. Weird.

I have barely been paying attention to the 2nd period but it's still 1-1. Here comes lame Pierre again. Leave the coaches alone fool! They are in the middle of a game. I haaaaaate that!!

Some good shots around the 5 minute mark. The goalies are pretty on tonight.
* I hate that I'm sayin this, but I'm ready for this game to be over. Not that I don't love hockey, because I do, and I even enjoy the wings, but there is this great cheezy Robin Hood show that I love on BBCAmerica, that was on last year. I just discovered that It's back for season 2 and I need to go watch some episodes. I'm a nerd but I can't watch 'em till after the game. *sigh*

Malkin looks like he isn't even trying. Bad news for him. I can't believe there isn't more backlash for his non-existantness in the finals.

In other hockey news, it's 2-2 in the Cincinnati Cyclones/Las Vegas Wranglers series. Game 5 is Monday in LV, but Game 6 and 7 are in Cincinnati, on Thurday and Saturday. I could probably go to the game on Thursday and I may even do it. :) Woohoo hockey in June!

Wow this entry is epic.

I think I've ranted about this before, but why does the NHL seem to think that the people watching games are old men?! I am SO tired of the cialis, viagara (on CBC) and flomax. Yo- I don't need or want to hear about all that crap! Whatever happened t the old days of beer and Dodge commercials? That's good enough for me. OOh look an amp energy commercial. YAY Ryan Miller! :)

Mike Babcock is creepy looking. He's got those beady eyes, kinda like a bird of prey or something. There's an idea for a hockey SAB... hmmmm. WOW 17 Penguins are under 30- 14 Red Wings are over 30. that's a bit of an age gap. (There are 20 Sabres under 30. We Win!)

OOoooooohh no that penalty on Lilja was total BULLSHIT! I'm sorry but Crosby had the puck, and Lilja didn't use his hands, or his stick or anything.. he just hit him. Las time I checked, HIP checks were Legal! Whoooooooo what a penalty kill for DEtroit! Helllls yeah baby!

Hmm word on the street is that the Wings and the Blackhawks will play a Winter Classic game in January of 09 at Wrigley Field. That'd be cool.

Whoa that last minute was INtense. Good game there. :) Now Pitsburgh can win game 5 and then Detroit can catch game 6 with 'Nee, Brett and I checkin the game at home. :) Wheeeeeeee!

Gooood Job Wings!

WHAT is Don CHerry wearing?

Watching on CBC tonight- I can't take the VS crew (even if it is on nbc or wherever.)

OH MY WORD that has the be the worst suit I have EVER seen! It literally hurts my eyes. yeeesh. And then there is Ron McLean who actually looks like a person. Whoa. THey showerd Zetterberg and I was like ahhhhhh he's SO LOVELY and then they cut to Grapes and my eyes just started to bleed!

He is such a windbag. I'm so tired of listening to Cherry blab about whatever. He is better than the VS loons but only because he actullay talks about hockey. He's still a bit of a buffoon.

Oh and just to note, Canadian SUBWAY commercials are weird!

THen again, I may have to check out the NBC broadcast just to compare. Just switched-that Love Guru movie looks stupid.

Oh yeah and Pittsburgh (finally) scored! It was a good goal, and Detroit just gave away the puck with the missed pass. BUt Osgood did have some bustin saves right there at the end. This may be a good game!

The Pens are flying early in the 2nd period. Oh Puke, Cros scored on a PP. That was a bullshit penalty, by the way. Osgood didn't have a chance on that one, Sid was sneakily posted right beside the net.

Wow, I forget who said this, but I agree, Andreas (what a great name) Lilja is LOVELY! Mmmmhmmm ANd he's 32! An older man. that doesn't happen often with me and hockey players these days. Word.

C'mon Pittsburgh, take some penalties. We like that.

Oooh Ovie, the suit with a plain white tshirt? That's so scrappy and a little hot. But that's Ovie for ya, scrappy and a little hot. and a damn fine goal scorer. ;)

Duuuude. Holmy is ready to go. He's gettin mauled out there. WOOOOOHHOOOOO WHat a nifty goal! Franzen just muscled his way through traffic and stuck with it until the puck was in the net. Sweeeeeet! 2-1. ;)

oooohhhhkkkaayy I don't know which is more disturbing, the sumo wrestler car wash commercial or Don CHerry's suit. And those Viagara commercials are bothering me.

Hellllo Trevor Linden- he is lookin fine! Dear sweet Trevor Linden was my first Captain- from the Canucks of 1994, my first hockey team love. Haven't seen 'im in a while and I like what I see. That is a mad hot jacket too.

I am completely loving the Hockey Hall of Fame commercials. So amazing!!

3rd period--- ooooh Malts and Cros mixing it up a bit. Don't even pretend Sid. Malts is so out of your league in scrappiness. Hoooooo good job Ozzie! nice grab on the line! Argh now it's 3-1 pitt. Missed the goal since I was doing laundry.

Woooo then the WIngs scored! We have a game after all. BUt it's actually okay if Pittsburgh wins because we need at least 6 games for 'Nee to be able to see a game (She thinks she'll be home Tuesday!!!!) so she can see some Red Wings hockey then!! It's all going according to plan.

Hmm Ray SHero looks like a cross between Jagr and Lemieux. Oh man after the Malkin call Michel looked like he had some mad indigestion going on. Poor guy. I'm sorry they keep saying your name wrong, homey. I FEEL YA!!!

So Pittsburgh gets the win. Just like we planned. It's okay Wings, y'all played well so there is nothing to be ashamed of. It's all good.

Now I need a shower and some sleep. Catch y'all on the flipside.

Give me a break

whine whine whinwe-
an excerpt:
"If you give us a break, we'll play defense like they do and people will laugh at them," Talbot said. "It's not an excuse, but if we got a bounce this series could be different. In Philly we took the lead and against the Rangers we took the lead. Ask them how good we were defensively. It's tough to catch up when you're trailing all the time."

Pittsburgh, shut your collective yaps and start playing some damn hockey. You know why you're not getting any breaks? because you miss the net when it's wide open and you're getting SMOKED by Detroit's D while yours, and your goalie for that matter, rather resemble swiss cheese of the moment. Sorry to tell youse guys (as they say in PA), but you are NOT as good as the Wings! YOu may have some sick offence (that seems to have been rather absent thus fun in the series) but that's about it. Show me something else and then you can whine with a little bit of justification. And playing defense shouldn't be about getting "breaks".. you could be frustrated about hitting posts or missing nets, cuz that kind of stuff just tends to happen on the offensive side of thigns, but good D is good D and you DON'T HAVE IT RIGHT NOW!

And as for the crap about Osgood being a diver, save it. Keep in mind that he's tiny and when you get up in his grill, he tends to fall down. YOU'RE the one who got caught doing it so shut it. Don't screw with the goalies. Besides, you can't seem to score on him even when he's down. that must be a bit tough to swallow, eh?

I'm not impressed. I thought they would be better than this. But then again I was pretty sure they weren't up to Detroit's level. And the Pens didn't have to take on anyone as talented and DEEP as the Red Wings thus far in the playoffs either. So yeah. I hope they squeeze out a win or 2 just to keep things interesting, but at the same time I would love it if Detroit just mopped the floor with those whiners. THen maybe all those yokels at NHL.com would stop calling Pittsburgh the new Edmonton Dynasty. They haven't won a Stanley Cup yet, how in the world can they be a dynasty? I'm mystified.