[NHL] I went to a hockey game...

...and a lacrosse game broke out

8-1 Canes over Montreal after 2 - no, no, no, Carolina can't win - it's wrong, very wrong - they better get crushed next round to atone for all this tomfoolery

and to think, Melissa and I were hoping to make it up to Montreal to catch a game...what's happened to Montreal? I also wonder what Theodore's thinking having let in some large number of goals in the last 3 games...

anyone taking bets on the final score of this game?

Why couldn't Boston do to Theodore what Carolina did. Arg. I goto 1 NHL playoff game on a whim (game 5 in Boston) and now I'm pissed I can't goto more this year.

Well, if Ottawa beats Toronto in Game Seven tomorrow, we get to watch Erik Cole play against Todd White. I'll let everyone decide for themselves if that's a good or bad thing.

Are you kidding me????

And no, they were never teammates at Tech....

Cole had a great game tonight.

John T. Whelan '91 wrote:

Well, if Ottawa beats Toronto in Game Seven tomorrow, we get to watch Erik Cole play against Todd White. I'll let everyone decide for themselves if that's a good or bad thing.

As if it wouldn't be bad enough that we'd be watching Carolina against Ottawa in the conference finals.

Hey, if they earn it, they deserve to be there...and to have hockey fans watching...

Did the Devils, for example, earn it? Nooooo.....

I didn't say they won't have earned it. I just said I didn't want to watch those two teams.

yeah. cole was good and carolina was hot yesterday- but i can't wait to see Toronto or Ottawa (hopefully toronto - tho ottawa has been playing better) kick their butts into oblivion.
ok. this is just optimism talking. don't know why but i absolutely can not stand carolina (tho it might be because they first ousted NJ and now my canadiens - good thing i've been rooting hardest for the avs - tho they too might soon be out if they continue their crappy play). does any one else have difficulty appreciating this team? am guessing that i am alone on this one ...

I could appreciate the 'lanche a lot more if that giant skating penis weren't in goal for them.

Well, I usually refer to Paddy Roy as the most arrogant netminder I have evr seen...mind you a healthy dose of arrogance is required to be a goalie...but he goes beyond that.

I think Age has said it better though...

I have no trouble at all watching any team that has earned it especially when they work so darn hard and "overachieve" by pulling upsets.

Of course, watching Cole's great play is a bonus. I can see how watching teams without exciting superstars might not be attractive to some fans.

Does everyone believe the Cup winner will be Detroit or maybe Colorado? Those are the teams with the superstars....

That said...GO HURRICANES!

I have no problem rooting against the Whore-icanes. After what Karmano$ did to the good fans of the Whalers. =3

That said, I'm very excited to see ECAC players from my time making their mark in the pros. White, Halpern, Cole, Chartrand...and yeah...even Steve Martins.

Go Leafs Go!

I can see how watching teams without exciting superstars might not be attractive to some fans.


Hey now. That wasn't what I said. Ottawa has no real superstars and I have definitely enjoyed watching them play. They've really been on fire and no one really thought of them as formidibile contenders coming into the play-offs.

Many of the superstars are more hollywood than hockey. Watched a few Carolina games earlier in the year and didn't find myself drawn in. Could have something to do with the fact that I think hockey should be played only in geographic regions capable of having snow come winter time. tho i admire their post season run and won't deny the skill of a few lesser knowns (like Cole and even Irbe) now coming into the limelight i will likely be hoping for whomever plays them. it more or less comes down to personal favorites .... and since the other team in the eastern conf. final has got to be canadian .... well - for me it's a no brainer. has nothing to do with fickleness or bandwagoning as the above implies.

yes. age is right about Roy ... but i still think that he's incredible in net. plus there's the fact that he's canadian

RichS wrote:

That said...GO HURRICANES!

Rich, Rich, Rich... we can agree to disagree on this Clarkson thing - but the Whore-i-canes? Look into their history a bit and I think you'll find it an absolutely I'm possible franchise to route for.

Personally, I can't truly route for the Avs, Coyotes, 'Canes, or Stars for that reason (yes, I know other teams have moved in the past, but not during my hockey-conscious lifetime). The Avs had the Bourque-factor last year, so that was an exception. I also hate back-to-back champs as a general rule, so the Avs are out, and the Wings I hate (long story) plus they won too recently.

Conclusion: Go Sens/Leafs! Plus you have the Canada connection there which is always a nice touch (I'm not Canadian, but it IS their game).

-Fred

Everyone gets on a goalie when there are a lot of goals scored, but look at the number of totally unmarked guys there were banging in rebounds yesterday. It is totally unfair for a goalie to have to face that many rebound shots from close range. Goalies stop the first shot, defense is supposed to take care of the rebounds... failing that, take care of the other players to allow goalie to cover. Montreal did neither very well series, and it finally cost them.

melissa '01 wrote:

I think hockey should be played only in geographic regions capable of having snow come winter time.

Hey, it snowed in Louisiana this past winter!
[lsuligo.phys.lsu.edu]

Okay, time for me to chime in here. Why has no one mentioned the Sharks? Every other team in the playoffs has been brought up. My money is on the Sharks to knock out the Avs. After that, who knows. I would love to see Detroit out of it (as I'm sure many would), but I can't see that happening easily. I do think that any of the three remaining Western teams can beat whichever Eastern team emerges, as none of the Eastern teams really impress me.

Regarding the statement about hockey, snow, and geography, while I agree to a point, I couldn't bear it if there were no hockey at all in CA! It's bad enough that the nearest D-I college team is three states away. There are enough eastern/midwestern transplants spread around the country to support hockey in warm climates -- I know I always will!

have not mentioned the sharks purely out of fear. they have a good team and could very well go all the way - tho i think that detroit will be a tough team to supass for whomever wins the avs/sharks series.

i too believe that whichever team wins the west will win the cup - tho the east will no doubt make it difficult.

as for the snow thing - didn't mean to upset anyone or slight any team/organization. hockey is a great sport no matter where it is but just can't seem to find affection for teams located in warm climates. it's a personal and admittedly unjust bias. call me cold-hearted!

sorry couldn't resist.

agree 1000%...he was left defenseless by his teammates...both D men and forwards. He had no chance on quite a few of the goals scored on him in the past 2-3 games.

Melissa,

I was in no way implying that you were bandwagoning or are fickle...

but I have spoken with a lot of marginal hockey fans...or people who say they are fans...who ask things like..."oh, who's on that team?" before they answer whether they'll be watching the game. What marquis players does Carolina have? No really recognizeable D men to the average fan...which I am not and really only Francis, O'Neill, and Brind'amour among the forwards...and Kapannen who has been nearly invisible so far...and of course Cole, who is not a surprise to those who followed him in college.

Surely more people would have watched had the Devils won but tsk tsk...

By the way, Irbe was very "hot" with the Sharks a few years back when he led them to a huge upset over Dtroit in the second round out west..he has always been streaky!

You can root against Karmanos all you want...no problem. But I root for the players...

Actually, isn't Lacrosse "their" game?

Fred,

What "Clarkson thing" are we disagreeing on? Is Cole being from Clarkson another reason for you to root against Carolina? Or am I missunderstanding you?

Hey, we all now Karmanos was a jerk...but the state of Conn and the Whaler fans allowed themselvesto be duped...

Their moving is ancient history to me, and as much as I dislike him, I root for the players...too much focus on the owners ruins the best part of being a fan.

How do you think I've managed to "ignore" Steinbrenner all these years?

GO OTTAWA....GO HURRICANES.....GO SHARKS...the Adam Graves factor!

I'll always* go for an Original Six team against an interloper, so I'm all for the Leafs tonight.

* excepting the Isles, of course.

Rich-

No, the "Clarkson" thing was merely the fact that you're a Clarkson fan ... and we can agree to disagree on that - it was meant in jest of course, perhaps I shoulda put a smiley --> , there we go.

I'm not gonna get into Karmanos bashing - I don't want to put this board through that. If ya really wanna discuss it, email me, but I have a hunch we both think it's better left alone - if I really feel like it there's plenty of surviving Whalers web sites that'll endulge me there.

You say the owner's make it less fun, I say hating jerks is fun... potato, potahto ). Seriously though, routing against people is almost as fun as routing for people. Maybe it's a little mean spirited, but no harm done, it's just sports.

And needless to say, I don't ignore Steinbrenner either .

-Fred

read an article recently talking about the fans Carolina has amassed and I think the ESPN guys brought up a good point. Carolina has an NBA team and an NHL team...which team is moving? the Hornets. But then, the fan base has built slowly and they're doing pretty well this year so don't quite know if it's a lot of bandwagon fans mixed in or not.

Anyways, yeah, it does feel wrong to see hockey played in an area generally not associated with hockey (the south) but I'm pretty damn close to it and I'm pretty thankful that DC has a hockey team (sucky as they were this year) and Hershey has a team (almost as sucky as the Caps this year) so I can see the game live without having to drive 5 hours.

but the state of Conn and the Whaler fans allowed themselves to be duped...

What an absolutely horrible thing to say. How in the world could Whaler fans "allow themselves to be duped?" Explain to me how the fans had any say in the matter whatsoever. Karmano$ played some really dirty tricks to screw a terrific fan base in a (get this) place where hockey passions run high. Only to move to a place where they still have to bring in NASCAR drivers to drop the ceremonial puck and pretend to drive the zamboni just to attempt to fill the joint during the regular season.

I'm firmly in the corner with Fred and Melissa on this (as well as Greg's original 6 comment). Moving a team to the desert from places that live, eat, sleep, and breathe hockey is a sacrilege. And I flat out refuse to cheer, support, or be happy for any success such a franchise has.

Of course, it all leads back to Gary effing Bettman, and it is the main reason I hate him so much. He'll probably never feel the pain of a hockey town that loses a team it loves.

For the first time since the Buffalo-Dallas Finals, one of my favorite teams is meeting one of my most hated teams in the playoffs, and I will be rooting for Toronto fervently.

And...besides all that, the Leafs president is a Cornell hockey icon.

RichS wrote:

GO SHARKS...the Adam Graves factor!

Oh no... Not only am I rooting for the same team in the west as RichS, I'm even doing it for the same reason.

wow. ok. am rooting for every team Rich S isn't rooting for. hmmm. interesting. gotta love hockey.

Note that Rich, having lived in Southern California and had the opportunity to benefit from the proximity of three professional hockey teams, is more entitled than most to criticize the NHL's move South. I think most of us would say not that hockey should not be played in warm-weather cities, but that teams should not be moved from regions of the continent which have historically supported hockey in an attempt to popularize the sport at all costs. Southern teams in regional minor leagues like the ECHL and (former) WPHL are useful for helping transplants get their hockey fix, and it was useful having teams like Houston and Orlando in the IHL, but what seems wrong is pushing the NHL into areas that haven't had a chance to develop a mature hockey culture at the expense of tradition-rich parts of Canada and the Northern US. (The demise of the I has transformed the AHL from the Northeastern regional minor league it used to be to the new IHL, a national top-level minor league, as was discussed in another thread.)

I hope that the college game can continue to avoid this expand-at-all-costs philosophy. The occasional Frozen Four in a place like Anaheim is a nice change of pace and pleasant to those of us whose lives have taken us far from College Hockey Land, and I don't begrudge the emergence of programs like Nebraska-Omaha and Alabama-Huntsville, which have stepped onto the national stage as a continuation of their own traditions. But I hope we never see the day when Big East Hockey Champion Miami of Florida plays Pac Ten Champion USC in the Tostitios National Championship Game in the Alamo Dome.

Ummm, unless you were refering to the Iroquois Confederacy when you said "their" game, I'd say no.

[www.iroquoisnationals.com] is a great site that talks about the (US based) Iroquois World Cup team.

To be fair, you may be thinking of the Six Nations of the Grand, a reservation between Hamilton and Brantford, about 120km southwest of Toronto.It was formed as an alliance of five Iroquois tribes -- the Seneca, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga and Mohawk -- plus the Tuscarora, who joined the confederacy in the early 18th century.

For some odd reason, BC seems to be one of the two lacrosse hotbeds north of the border. If memory serves, the Gaits were from BC.

think that he was simply refering to the fact that lacrosse is (or at least was for a long time) canada's official national sport - tho most could care less about it up there in actuality.

Melissa wrote:

think that he was simply refering to the fact that lacrosse is (or at least was for a long time) canada's official national sport - tho most could care less about it up there in actuality.

If I remember correctly, lacrosse is Canada's official sport involving a ball. Thus, the german word for lacrosse is something like kanadischnationalballspiel (Of course, my german is very very rusty so that could actually mean "meat filled pastry" for all I know.)

That would be like the the US calling baseball the official national sport that uses a bat.

John T. Whelan '91 wrote:

But I hope we never see the day when Big East Hockey Champion Miami of Florida plays Pac Ten Champion USC in the Tostitios National Championship Game in the Alamo Dome.

No. But I wouldn't mind seeing a Big East hockey conference of UConn, Providence, BC, Syracuse, Notre Dame, etc. simply due to the marketing muscle of the Big East with the networks.

"You wanna carry Big East basketball and football? Fine, then you won't mind showing 3 or 4 Big East hockey games too."

I think it is fair to say that HE and the ECAC currently have zero pull with the networks now. A Big East hockey conference might change that.

Out of curiosity, where the hell did the Big East come from? What do those schools have in common with each other aside from big time semi-pro sports programs? The idea of pooling that set of schools because they're a conference in other sports seems like saying that College Hockey America should form a basketball conference or that Notre Dame should play Alaska-Anchorage and Nebraska-Omaha in football because they're all in the CCHA together.

A most excellent post, JTW. You've summed up my feelings exactly, and I couldn't have said it better myself without getting all ranty.

The reason is because they want to be a true conference, cutting across several different men's and women's sports, in order to take advantage of the cross-promotion possibilities and other synergies available. Why not try to capitalize on the national reputation of Big East men's basketball (at that time)?

It's much easier for a school's athletic program if it is a member of the same conference in several different sports (if not all), and it's much better for the conference to have many types of sports under its umbrella.

CUlater '89 wrote:

It's much easier for a school's athletic program if it is a member of the same conference in several different sports (if not all), and it's much better for the conference to have many types of sports under its umbrella.

Witness the impotence of the ECAC vs. the strong branding of the Ivy League.

You are a good man!

Graves is my idea of what a pro athlete should be...but of course, too many are like...oh...take your pick...

Yes I was...

I think it's fair to say Dryden is also an icon of College Hockey...and maybe even of Les Habitants!

Of course, he did fire Mike Smith, Clarkson '68, who seems to have turned around the Blackhawks as GM the past two years.

Maybe the two of them just could not agree on "the Clarkson thing"...

Well, I think Fred mentioned earlier that it's not worth lambasting Karmanos all over again here....and I agree for the most pART.

Sorry about that...

My point is that sadly, the fans in CT as well as the powers that be were taken advantage of by, and lied to by Karmanos when he made his promises to stay...blah blah blah.

In no way do I agree with what he did...but, the guys playing the game have nothing to do with his decision making so I don't NOT root for them just because of their owner.

And for the record...I've been a Yankee fan since years before George bought the team from CBS...

Rich-

I completely understand not wanting to let the owner get into it. As for me, it's hard to route for anything that will make a horrible man (IMHO) smile - shadenfreude? (I took German, but I'm rusty so forgive the spelling maybe) perhaps, but I've been routing for CompuCr@p (or whatever it is) to go under too, so let's just say I don't consider the guy a friend. If he ended up a sad, poor, pityful man, I'd be glad.

I'd love to see Francis and a couple of the remaining (reclaimed) players from the Whaler-days get their due (though Francis won a cup with Pittsburgh, two even, so I suppose he got his already), but I can't do it if it'd mean giving that man success.

So I understand not wanting to bring the owner into it, but I just can't do it in this case. I also stopped being a Pats (NFL) fan after *they* shat on my home state a couple years ago.

All this talk makes me be only more grateful for college sports.

-Fred

All this talk makes me be only more grateful for college sports.

Amen to that! (Especially the Ivies)

(Although "big-time" college football and basketball differ from the pros, in my mind, only in the degree of compensation and in the college teams' lack of "portability".)

Yeah, I hear that Bob Kraft is sorta Public enemy #1 in the Nutmeg state!

I'd rather not capitalize too much on the popularity of Big Time sports for several reasons, several of which are:

1) I would hate to see long time conference rivalries like BU-BC disappear in favor of things like Notre Dame-BC, which have no hockey history.

2) Part of the joy of college hockey is that small, relatively unknown schools like CC, LSSU or Clarkson can and have been successful on the national stage. The more you pump football and basketball conferences the more likely it is that hockey becomes like them.

3) If we get "true" conferences mixed in with old, you the possibility where the "true" conferences may try to use their NC$$ status to pursue their goals which might nt mesh with what the rest of college hockey wants. This already started to happen with the MAAC and the start date legislation. I imagine the Big East or Big Ten would have a lot more pull than the MAAC too.

Hate to tell you but Carolina did NOT sell out Game 1 of the Conference Finals.
I'm sorry but THE CONFERENCE FINALS!! Come walk up, buy tickets 1/2 hr before face-off. Good Seats still available!

Also, anyone else notice how loud the leafs contingent was in NC?

> Also, anyone else notice how loud the leafs contingent was in NC?

The Canes actually have a pretty raucous following, on the Novelty Act That Wins principle. Having lived there, my prediction is that interest will peak within a year, and the franchise will be unviable by the end of the decade. About the only people in NC who care about hockey for its own sake are Duke students from Connecticut who don't have the money and RTP enginerds from Boston who don't have the time.

I seriously doubt whether any hockey team in the Confederacy will last out the decade. Dallas maybe just from sheer size (LA has managed to hold onto a team for 40 years even though nobody there cares).