I had the Flyers in our pool,, (not my choice) the bastards! lol

Congrats to the Sharks, it was a fun game to watch:-)

4 for 4!

x2. Watched the game with a Vegas Robaina Don Alejandro, nice to finally know who Vancouver is going to meet in their 3rd of 4 rounds...

Or 3rd of 3 rounds, if there is a God.


:-) J/K, good luck to the Nucks. :-)

Congrats to the Sharks, they played better for longer. While I feel the Wings outplayed them for 40 of the 60 minutes last night, the Sharks played better in 4 of the 7 games; not necessarily the ones they won, but overall.

Funny, Tyr's pulling for the Nucks and Tom is rooting for anyone but the Nucks (i.e. the Sharks). I'm sure it will be fun to watch, but then again it is the battle of the Western Conference's choke artists. :-) Both teams needed a 7th game to advance after going up 3-0 in these playoffs. I won't even mention their decades of prior playoff asphyxiation. :-)


Mike, Mike, Mike, I will not make excuses. As I said, the Sharks deserved to win the series. I was hoping that the Wings could steal one. It seems many teams in the past have stolen games or even series from the Wings and I don't remember the Wings ever doing it to anyone else. Probably because they've been a 1 or 2 seed for almost 20 years. I guess if you're a top seed and you win, you didn't steal it you were supposed to win. But, I digress.

I understand your disdain for everything red and white. I feel the same about the damn teal and black. Ever since they ousted the Wings in the 93-94 playoffs (an 8 over a 1 seed) I have had a healthy dislike for the fish.

Anyway, now I have to put my support behind "The Captain" and hope he can hoist the cup as a GM in Florida.

That's what I'm hoping for too :-)

Congrats to the Sharks. Other than Joe Thorton I can't hate any of the Sharks. They were the better team last night. Looking forward to the rest of the rounds

Mike Mike Mike I wont quote your fours posts after the first 4 games where you complained at length about the officiating. I am glad you are not making excuses now. The comment at the top about them not playing better in some of the games they won seems to link back to some of your officiating complaints in the first games, but who knows. :-) You should now damn well by now I am going to poke you of I get the chance. Its all in fun though. Now lets all start poking Bruins Fan, hes fun also.

I think everyone can agree with Osgoods post game comments that it was the best series he had been apart of. I think it was one of the best in recent memory. I would have put the Hawks series above it if they had pulled it out. Even not taking it to OT made that series I think better

I am also hoping Tampa shows everyone their lightning bolt. Great club and GM.

I may as well make some predictions. I'm sticking by my statement that the long layoff hurt the Lightning and helped the Bruins. Bruins in 6.

The West...??? Which team will step up and get the monkey off their back? I'm still not a believer in Vancouver, but the Sharks have just as much to prove. I think pulling out the game 7 win gave the Sharks some confidence and will help propel them to the Cup finals.

Now who am I rooting for? Probably the Lightning and Sharks....that's subject to change if someone acts like whiney punks on the ice. :-) I'm also rooting for some drama, and Thorton returning to Boston in the Cup finals would qualify. Either way, I hope we have some great hockey! :-)

I'm looking forward to tomorrow night, Colin Campbell has told the officials to to call penalties on
dive plays :-)
My take five on five the B's win, they play stupid the five on fours will kill them?
All the talk around here is about Tampa's 1-3-1 system.
I think the key is getting the puck in the offensive zone clean and let the big forwards do their job:-)

Guys on NHL (XM) said Boston is tailor-made to beat the 1-3-1 system with the size and strength of their forwards.

Hoping for a great, close series.

Tampa reminds me of montreal, but more disciplined and more skilled. I think the potential for a great series is there. I think their speed and skill could give Boston problems. They dont the history the Habs had though.

I have not heard the lightning are divers. Is every small fast skill team a bunch of divers? Seems odd thats the throw down card. Fast skill teams do draw penalties against bigger slower teams often, but I dont see that as diving. Last I checked its called getting beat. I wonder if Campbell gave the greenlight to call headshots. Poke :-)

Divers,did you say divers? Just ask Bruce :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2RfrO1Nhqs

.Lol @ Bruce. Wonder if he is coaching the Caps next year.

I will say I agree with the analyst statements as I said that above.
Fast high skill players draw penalties. Do they sell them yup. You can usually only sell if you get position first by beating your guy. I would say the analyst to a large extent reinforce my above post.

Diving to me is faking contact not selling a hook or trip.

Embellishment is a major part of the rule....like the guy who gets tapped on the helmet with the stick and throws his head back like he has been shot. But it works for getting calls, the embellishment is rarely enforced, so some players ain't gonna quit. It's a shame. :-)

Yeah I know Tom. The argument to that which drives me crazy is when you see a guy get highsticked and he sells it or gets tripped a little and sells it and they call the trip and the dive. Its one or the other to me. Either I got tripped or I didnt. I know your a dman though.

I get the point though. I dont think selling it when the guy gets his stick in your side or feet is going away. If the guy gets position and you chose to use the stick and he gets the call thats part of the game. Selling it doesnt always work, but everybody including superstars use it. To call a player a diver for selling a trip or a hook just rubs wrong. A diver is the phantom high stick or trip guy. A guy who sells a trip or a hook is majority of the league at one time or another when your trying to get your team an advantage. I think most players expect it. The outright soccer dive and roll is not very many and I dont think thats the Bolts. Do they use there speed to get and sell calls. I think many players do and I wouldnt call them divers.

The word blatantly jumps out. Selling a hook or slight trip is exploiting a players use of his stick. It has to be there in the first place to sell the hook or trip. I still just dont yhink the Bolts are a bunch of divers.

Sad news....may "The Boogeyman" RIP.

Saw this last night. That sucks.

X2 :-)

If they called every dive or embellishment, Montreal would start the game short handed. Go Bruins!:-)