Dallas Stars
Osgood As It Gets!!!!
START SPRAING THE SHAME PAIN BOYS AND LETS DRINK FROM THE LORDS CUP!!!!!
Wow, well the Red Wings are Stanley Cup Champions again.
What a series it was, both teams played their hearts out and it the end we all know who is the best team this season in Hockey.
The Red Wings dominated the Playoffs and Osgood got the MVP.
Although the Penguins tried to force a game 7, the Wings were just to big to stop.
If the Penguins did force a game 7, then it would be really tough to win it in Hockeytown.
The Pens came into the Stanley Cup Finals overconfident and not willing to admit that there was another team better than them and more hungry for Lord Stanleys Cup.
That’s the real reason the Penguins lost the series and their dreams of hoisting the Cup.
All that’s left to do until the offseason comes is the 2008 NHL Draft which will be an exciting one and with Melrose becoming the new lighting head coach and the Wings winning the Cup this will be an interesting Draft year for the NHL.
Campbell Bowl Goes To Detroit!
Detroit will represent the West in the Stanley Cup Finals with a 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals. The Red Wings used every bit of their body and quite literally their heads in this game. Hell, the first goal was scored by Kris Draper as the puck went off his face and past a stunned Marty Turco. From there the tone was set and the first two periods were all Detroit.
The first Wings goal and you can even see the blood start to gush from Kris Draper’s chinny chin chin. From there the Wings would keep the pressure up…..and that led to this…..a second Wings goal on the Power Play from Pavel Datsyuk.
The Wings were not done in the first period….Dallas Drake would make it 3-0 when he managed to take his own rebound in front of the net and pound it home while two Dallas Stars players went by him like it was a game of green light, red light….
At this point…the Dallas crowd went silent…you could hear a few fans in the bowl chanting and beating a drum. Really you could hear them loud and clear even over the announcers of the game. The Stars only generated 6 shots on net in the first and really it could have been much worse but Detroit seemed to let up a bit in the last minute or two of the period.
In the second period…Dallas had several prime chances on the man advantage but could not convert. They had three straight Power Plays where they didn’t even have a shot on goal. What was worse…was Henrik Zetterberg managed to get by the Dallas defense on a breakaway and he easily beat Marty Turco to give the Wings an insurmountable 4-0 lead.
From that point on the game was functionally over. The Wings continued to more or less control the second period despite all the Power Play chances Dallas had. I really expected Dallas to make a run in the third period and sure enough they did.
The third period was Dallas’s finest hour. Like a warrior fighting to the bitter end….the Stars fired 16 shots on net in the final stanza and finally on the Power Play they would strike on a tally by Stephane Robidas. This made it 4-1 Red Wings…and sent the crowd into a frenzy.
But in the end it was Chris Osgood who stole the show in the third period and ultimately the Detroit Red Wings held on to win the game 4-1 and the series 4-2. They will play the Pittsburgh Penguins at Joe Louis Arena on Saturday at 8pm ET. The early line has Detroit winning the Cup but as only a slight favorite.
Tomorrow we will take a day off and look at some of the lighter hockey moments this season for me and some players. Good night everyone!
Full Moon Coming….
Most NHL fans were sickened by the following image today.
Thank you Yahoo and Getty Images…..
Crosby with The Wales Conference Trophy
So well…now what? Pittsburgh has earned the right to represent the East no question though I will still think up and down if the Devils had gotten out of the first round..they could have made more noise against the Penguins than the Flyers but hey…that is just me. Pittsburgh deserves a major pat on the back as they have made their first Stanley Cup Final since 1992. Now that is an accomplishment. Somewhere up there I am sure Badger Bob is smiling from ear to ear and downing a Scotch.
Then In Quebec CIty at Le Colisee…..the Russians surprised Canada early in Overtime for a 5-4 victory. Ilya Kovalchuk just barely stayed onside from a cross ice pass, skated in and fired a screamer right past Cam Ward who knew it was in before it actually went in. What ensued after was a celebration that resembled more party than World Championship or Olympic Gold Medal. In the end, Canada blew a 4-2 lead they should have held but give Russia tons of credit for remembering what got them to the Gold Medal Game in the first place. They just kept coming in waves and Canada was put on their heels. By the time Canada tried to mount attacks of their own, they just looked too tired. It was like the 3-1 first period lead took the strength out of the home team. Well this was a nice picture of Captain Alexei Morozov…smile Russia!!!
Russia Wins World Championship (Photo: DAVID BOILY/Getty Images)
Well hell I have dropped to 4-6 for the Conference Finals yet I was 6-1 in the World’s when it counted…go figure!!!! Don’t forget Stars-Wings tonight…and I am thinking the Wings surprise the Stars 4-2..I don’t know why at this point honestly but I picked Wings in 6…and maybe they are listening…hopefully.
The Worlds And Playoffs Meet…Sorta!
Now this is going to be fun folks! Two hockey games both meaning something on the same day and both can have a very definite finality.
First up will be the Canada-Russia tilt at 1pm EDT (10am for those West Coast brunch eaters). This shapes up to be a whale of a game and Russia wants to win this so bad that Evgeni Nabokov wants to be the one that stops Canada. Many do think that Canada is indeed vulnerable. They looked rather shaky in their 5-4 victory over Sweden in the Semis on Friday. If it wasn’t for Mike Greene, Canada may be playing for bronze right now but the bottom line is…they are not.
The key for Russia is to duplicate their effort against Finland. They were disciplined, played physical, and executed all facets of the game. Now a perfect like game against Canada is not likely but that is the type of intensity they need. Obviously Sushinskiy, Ovechkin, Fedorov, and crew have to get off to a quick start but defensively they know Canada can come in waves especially with the NaGeHe (Nash-Getzlaf-Heatley) line. That line is like a big wrecking ball at what feels much more than the close to 700 pounds combined that they actually are. This will be Russia’s toughest challenge…slowing down that Canada forecheck.
In the end I think the Russians are the one team that could pull this off. Really before the tournament if you had Canada-Russia….I would not have been surprised. Russia is going to set the tone with an early goal then the two teams will play back and forth before Ovechkin nets the game winner in a 4-3 Russia triumph.
The other game begins shortly after 3pm EDT (Noon for those lunch timers on the Left Coast). Philadelphia tries to extend their season against Pittsburgh with two key additions likely to be back in the lineup. Those changes will be Mr. Timonen and Coburn, basically their two best defensemen….PERIOD! Philadelphia has a world of confidence and this will only help against Pittsburgh where Marc Andre Fleury suddenly looks a bit vulnerable. The Flyers will have to counterpunch considerably in the first half of the game as the Penguins will push the pace to its breaking point. Martin Biron will have to stand on his head much like he did in the Montreal series (especially games 2-4).
Daniel Briere and Joffrey Lupul will have to continue to be major presences in front of Fleury. Briere has too much speed and skating ability to be contained by the Penguins D and he needs to exploit that especially in man advantage situations. If Lupul and Briere can click early, this game could easily tilt in the Flyers favor. If not, the Penguins are going to head to their first Stanley Cup Finals since 1992.
In the end, the Flyers have an extended leash on life and will not let this opportunity go….in a surprising 4-3 victory…expect RJ Umberger to net the winner and Biron to make at least 30-35 saves.
So this expects to be a great day for some hockey…thank you Badger Bob!!
Recharging The Batteries!!!
Time to power up some.
No it wasn’t pretty but I did go 2 for 2 with the World Semis yesterday…I did think Russia would have an easy time with Finland and that Canada and Sweden would go toe for toe before Canada prevailed. Sure enough both things happened. Russia played a passive aggressive game and defeated Finland 4-0 while Canada had a much tougher time with Sweden before dispatching them 5-4.
What did it prove? Well more than I thought apparently. Sometimes a little less thought needs to go into things like predicting. No one really truly “knows” what will happen. If they did….they wouldn’t be on Earth now would they? Thankfully I am not a betting man but I can say I know a thing or two about hockey. One thing is for sure about hockey…it can be awfully damn unpredictable at times and sometimes you do not see that coming until it is too late.
I can offer you the reader all the analysis in the world and in reality it is up to the players to perform up or down in the grand scheme of things. It is like being at the whim of a madman…you never know when the craziness will end or if it will ever cease. All you can do is hold on for dear life and hope and pray the crazy thing stops.
After all that….it is still an aspect I would never trade away for anything in the world. Uncertainty is a great equalizer in the world and risk taking is a part of everyday life. I certainly do not gamble off these predictions…for I would have probably made some decent money over the first two rounds and not so much this one. Really it is now a time to just simply let it ride and roll the bones so to speak. Soooo……
Detroit 3 Dallas 2
Good night from Yucca Valley.
The Late Late Update From The Left Coast….
Let’s see what happened tonight…and basically what didn’t go wrong….well as far as predictions go.
For one…the USA lost to Finland 3-2 in Overtime despite a valiant comeback.
Then Dallas finally got the upper hand thanks to some fine goaltending by Marty Turco (33 saves and first star) in a 3-1 victory over Detroit last night.
Pittsburgh has a chance to sweep the Flyers tonight…I never thought that would happen at all…ever!
What a strange week it has been really. From the success of several hockey related ventures to the bizarre events on the NHL and International Stage. One thing for sure….life and hockey are never dull. I can’t wait for the World Semis on Friday and next week when the Stanley Cup Finals start. Hopefully, the joy of friends and hockey can put a smile on my face unlike the picture that has been painted in the last week.
Brooms For The Playoff Predictor….
After watching last night….I became truly depressed as the Flyers went down to defeat 4-1 at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Yes it dropped my record to 4-2 but I came to the realization that both these Conference Finals seem predestined to end in sweeps. So now I must bring out the broom…….
I do hope the picture came out…but with a 4-2 record…I am calling sweep tonight…the Red Wings are just too much clearly for the Stars to handle and though the Stars will come out with pride…it just won’t be enough.
Detroit 4 Dallas 2
The quarterfinals in the World’s are today…now that should be some entertainment!!
Ron Wilson Canned And An Apology…
Well I figured after the San Jose Sharks were eliminated, I figured Ron Wilson had to take the fall, fairly or unfairly. Sure enough a week to the day……Wilson was relieved of his duties and GM Doug Wilson said a search has begun immediately for a new coach. My question is what really went wrong here? This team has clearly underachieved the last three seasons. Many had this team going to the finals this season and quite a few had them winning the whole damn thing. So how did it end in the second round yet again?
There are so many reasons. You can trace it to the overplaying of Evgeni Nabokov, the lack of depth scoring, the injury to Michalek. There were too many things to mention here but really it all comes down to playoff game planning and this team has not or still has not found a plan that consistently works. This is more than the coach’s fault….this is on the players, staff, execs, and owner PERIOD! So who is the immediate scapegoat? Ron Wilson…that’s who. He will land a job and in very short order…there are a number of teams who are looking for the services of a coach like him. Expect him to be with a new team before the draft or shortly thereafter. You heard it here first!
Now onward to an apology of sorts if you will. I said this in January:
There is no denying this team has great team chemistry…they have for almost two decades really. Yet for whatever myriad of reasons, they have not won a cup since 2002. I really do believe the Wings play so good during the season that they may be playing too well when they head into the playoffs. Teams often come gunning for them and when that intensity ramps up, they can’t answer the bell for whatever reason. Now I am not saying the Red Wings should tank it a bit…but one has to admit, it is strange to see a team with such killer instinct in the regular season….lose it in the playoffs the way they do.
May I now simply just admit I was wrong here…though with one caveat. The Wings did indeed slow down a bit albeit because of some injuries and maybe that was a good thing. Because now in the playoffs they are even more unbeatable than in the early part of the regular season. Detroit has won 9 straight games..two shy of the record from the 1993 Montreal Canadiens. Unlike the Habs, the Wings have not needed overtime at all. Chris Osgood is playing consistent and that is all Detroit really needs right now. Let the defensive machine combine with timely scoring and you have the makings of a Stanley Cup Champ. They still have 5 games to win before they can claim the Cup but this is a year they definitely have what it takes…something that couldn’t be said even in January.
In an oh by the way…Canada beat Finland 6-3 today and the USA throttled Norway 9-1 which means simply we get to see Finland and the US play for keeps in the quarters. If it is anything like the game Sunday, it will be one whale of a game. The US and their Power Play will come out firing…hopefully they let them play and no one decides this one but the players….then that way there can’t be any doubt.
Well a tough one tonight…as Dallas lost bad but I am hoping Philly can do what Dallas couldn’t and that is come out with the fire and intensity then sustain it. They will enough to win this one.
Philly 4Â Pittsburgh 3
Viva l’hockey!!!!!
The Anger And The Ecstasy!
Sometimes the best way to describe mood in general is to just vent….just let it all out there. If we didn’t, we would not be considered human. This one is pretty much to the IIHF……..
GO SUCK IT!!!!!!!
Why? Simple….it isn’t the goal that wasn’t that irks me as much as the phony apology from their organization. Yes they manned up and fired the goal judge but he should never be allowed to work another IIHF or olympic event ever…PERIOD…DONE!! There is no excuse for what happened. Now would the US have still lost anyway? Well we will never know now will we? Finland got much needed momentum from that goal and that measures itself in more ways than just the tally itself.
Like I said before…no links, pictures or videos this time….this is just an angry man just letting it out. I want heads rolling….not chopped off or anything but something more needs to be done. To add further insult…in the end of the game fight….the ensuing scrums saw Teemu Selanne basically being allowed to jaw at the American bench for what seemed like minutes before he was finally escorted off. His little attempted sucker punch did not go unnoticed by the USA squad and damn you thought Coach John Tortorella was going to castrate him right on the ice. The question there would be….who did he go after first…officials, or Selanne? His press conference was colorful to say the least. There was nice usage of several explicit curses mixed in eloquently with good in-game insight. I felt for the guy…he already has a short deck….then to see his team get jobbed had to send him over the edge and it did to me as well.
Well not is all bad today as the Americans are bouncing back early against poor Norway. The US is up 3-0 after 1…outshooting Norway 18-5. Goals by Kane, Brown, and Dubinsky punctuated a strong first period that hopefully is a harbinger of things to come. Maybe this is the rallying point this team really needed. Only time will really tell.
The ecstasy comes in the form of my predictions which are off to a great 4-0 start following the Pittsburgh win yesterday. Well time to stop tooting my own horn here and get to today’s prediction….here is what I got.
Dallas 3Â Detroit 2
Let’s see how right I am. I figure home ice will mean something especially in Game 3. Thank you and enjoy the hockey everyone!
Late Night In Yucca Valley…
Sometimes the long nights will drive you crazy…but thanks to XM radio again for the pickup here. I did get to listen to Detroit’s 4-1 win over Dallas. Mike Babcock summed it up best on the podium tonight. Whatever fear he put into the Red Wings clearly worked. His team did not come out rusty and as the matter of fact they had the power as they scored three times on the Power Play. One goal from Rafalski, one from Franzen, and one from Holmstrom…then a pretty even strength tally by Val Filppula…and the chants of Turr-Cooo…Turr-Cooo could be heard at Joe Louis. The game was pretty well over and Detroit could coast.
Marty Turco is now 0-8-2 at Joe Louis and if Dallas is going to win in Detroit at all in this series…they will have to show up in the first period…something they forgot to do last night…taking penalty after penalty. If Boucher and Barnes can come back in this series 100% then Dallas may have a shot here. If not, it is going to be hard for them to do this without those two players. This team and coaching staff has to show its assets better and it must in Game 2. Where was Brad Richards in this game? He was pretty much invisible. Even Datsyuk and Zetterberg had 7 shots on goal each and were active around the Dallas net all game long.
Chris Osgood was good in the second period and that really was the only time he had to. The Stars did not rattle him or really bombard him with shots like they needed to and therefore Osgood was GOOD! Maybe Dallas needs to go back to the videotape to figure out what went wrong or they will be done sooner rather than later.
Now to the Pittsburgh-Philly series….I have a prediction and since tonight’s went pretty well…here we go.
Pittsburgh 4 Philly 3
And yeah enjoy the video…a little Flyers prep as they face the Pens in Game 1.
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