General Hockey Thread v2.0

[broncocalijohn]

It is easy for me to tell you what I htought of my Ducks AFTER the almost miracle comeback in game 3, but I figured with the sheer amount of shots in that 3rd period showed that the man between the pipes was infact not the devil aka Anti-Duck. With this in mind, I knew ducks would come firing in game 4 (which they did out shooting them in the 1st period 25 to 3). I predict they win game 5 . Will it end there? Let us see if the Ducks can keep this machine gun shooting up. BTW: Federuk was supposed to start and went for warm ups but was scratched. Healthy scratch Big man Moen now got in and was everywhere blocking shots. He was playing like there was going to be a game 5 and he wanted to be part of it. I know can sell my tickets and I if I go, I am sneaking in. I did it twice in the Finals 3 years ago so this should have the same results. Ill try to take pixs of my odyssey.

[defenseman]

Sabres are going to have a hard time the rest of the way out with one of their top defenseman on the shelf with a broken arm. Adv: Canes.
Oilers will come up with a way to finish off the ducks. Too much speed and "need to succeed" for the oilers to dump out at this point. Adv: Oil...dman

[Mtbrncofn]

Regarding the new play man for the Avs: Is this the guy that trashed Karpotsev (sp?) a couple of years ago on air? If so, that guy was hysterical.

[Jori]

Originally Posted by mtbrncofn

Regarding the new play man for the Avs: Is this the guy that trashed Karpotsev (sp?) a couple of years ago on air? If so, that guy was hysterical.

Yes....that's the same guy.

Just imagine if Breezeby is here next year...

[Mtbrncofn]

Ok, since he was pretty damn funny about that whole thing....I'm ok with him.

[BroncosMT]

I hate the ducks....Go Oilers! Would be nice for the 8th seed to get in there. Go underdog!

[alkemical]

The pens have a GM, the draft is in a few weeks - GO PENS!

[Jori]

Cujo resigns with the Yotes; one year, $2 million.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=167036&hubname=nhl

[broncocalijohn]

Originally Posted by BroncosMT

I hate the ducks....Go Oilers! Would be nice for the 8th seed to get in there. Go underdog!

You just hate the Ducks, you hate America! Edmonton equals Canada. Your state is too close to the Canucks to be patriotic. Plus, Ducks are a 6th seed, not exactly an overwhelming favorite to start. Pretty damn good of a 8th seed though.

[alkemical]

Man, smoking a flag must get you reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllll
high

[Mtbrncofn]

Originally Posted by broncocalijohn

Your state is too close to the Canucks to be patriotic..

Excuse me? Oh **** off. Your team is from a city that doesn't even know what ice is!

At least we have the prerequisites to have a pick up hockey game in our state if we want.

[Nuggets4]

Originally Posted by mtbrncofn

Excuse me? Oh **** off. Your team is from a city that doesn't even know what ice is!

At least we have the prerequisites to have a pick up hockey game in our state if we want.

You have mullets?!?

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[Clockwork Orange]

4-0 Carolina. This one's become a best of three series.

[Mtbrncofn]

Originally Posted by Nuggets4

You have mullets?!?

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Oh hell yeah. Our state motto is: Welcome to Montana, set your clocks back 25 years.

[Mtbrncofn]

Originally Posted by Clockwork Orange

4-0 Carolina. This one's become a best of three series.

Helps to add a bit more thrill to it all. Ryan Miller and Dwayne Roloson must have caught the same thing: sieveatosis.

[Jori]

It doesn't help when you are missing three defensemen. The Buffalo blueline clearly showed its inexperience last night

[Mtbrncofn]

Way to go, Oil! Thanks for knocking those Quacks out.

[Swedish Extrovert]

Albeit a little late, but this was a funny quote from Teemu Salanne -

"Our goal scoring in this series has been like ketchup bottle. It's hard to get it out, and when it comes, it's going to come and it's going to come a lot."

[Jori]

I feel so bad for Brian Burke......NOT!

[24champ]

Old news but looked at the last 4 pages of this thread and did not see this posted-

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. - Marc Crawford brings a demanding style and a winning resume to his new job as coach of the Los Angeles Kings.

ADVERTISEMENT

Crawford was introduced Monday as the replacement for John Torchetti, who coached the season's final 12 games after Andy Murray was fired.

Crawford signed a multiyear deal. Terms weren't disclosed.

"We're going to continue to build on the strengths that they've had in here," he said. "It is a talented group. I look forward to hopefully helping some of the players make strong improvements in their game."

And make the playoffs, which the Kings missed for a third consecutive season after finishing 42-35-5.

Bringing Crawford aboard was the first major move by Kings general manager Dean Lombardi, hired last month to succeed Dave Taylor.

"This is not only a guy who knows how to win, but also knows how to get the best out of his players," said Lombardi, who spent 36 hours with Crawford last week.

"What impressed me the most was his willingness to admit he made mistakes and his willingness to admit he didn't have the answers yet, but he was going to find them," Lombardi said.

Crawford himself is fresh off being fired by the Vancouver Canucks in April after seven years that included four consecutive playoff appearances before missing this season.

He has a regular-season record of 411-285-127 in 12 seasons in the NHL, and a 43-40 playoff mark.

The 46-year-old Crawford guided Colorado to the 1996 Stanley Cup championship, when Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy played for him. Crawford becomes the first coach in Kings' history to have a Stanley Cup on his resume.
"I'm a different coach from Andy Murray. I say that with all respect," he said. "I'm very passionate about what I do, I'm very inclusive in how I perform my duties as a head coach, and most of all, I want players and people around me who work hard, who are creative.

"I expect a lot from my players, I'm very demanding."

Crawford promised the Kings will pressure both ends of the ice.

Center Craig Conroy described himself as "very impressed" with Crawford's resume.

"I saw what he did in Vancouver, how he kind of resurrected that whole team and the way the team responded, it's so positive," Conroy said. "It seems like he makes everybody on the team accountable, too, and that's what we really need here."

Crawford said the deciding factor in taking the job was the shared philosophy between him, Lombardi, team owner Phillip Anshutz and Tim Leiweke, who gave up his title as chief executive officer so Lombardi could have freer rein in running the team.

"I have a strong sense of commitment from Mr. Anshutz and Tim Leiweke and most of all from Dean that he was going to do things the right way," Crawford said. "We weren't going to put Band-Aids on problems."

Lombardi has met with the entire team in his first month on the job.

Asked his assessment of what went wrong last season, he said, "It was a series of molehills that were allowed to continue to brew and then finally it just collapsed."

Injuries contributed to the Kings' demise after they started the season strongly, then the infighting began.

"When things started to go south, there were arguments here, arguments there. Everyone is kind of pointing the finger," Conroy said. "That's what we (have) got to get away from. We just let it snowball and it got worse and we couldn't get out of it."

Crawford emphasizes building strong relationships with his players. While spending time last week with Lombardi, Crawford's phone rang with a call from Vancouver forward Todd Bertuzzi.

"I found that really impressive that he would take the time to call his coach," Lombardi said.

Bertuzzi is being sued in a Canadian civil court by former Colorado player Steve Moore, who was seriously injured after being punched by Bertuzzi in a 2004 game. Bertuzzi pleaded guilty to assaulting Moore.

Crawford had dealt with the fallout from Bertuzzi's actions.

"You don't lose a job because of one thing that happened," he said. "Todd was very, very uncharacteristically saddled with that responsibility. It's not true."

The Kings have 11 players who are free agents, and Conroy said he feels a mix of optimism and nervousness about who will be around next season.

"You hope they don't overhaul the team completely," he said. "If you add a few players to our team, we're going to be right in the thick of things next year."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060522/..._kings_coach_3

[Tredici]

"It seems like he makes everybody on the team accountable, too, and that's what we really need here."

Well, if we overlook the exceptions of Naslund and Bertuzzi....

[Swedish Extrovert]

Damn, that photo is begging to be photoshoped, and I'm in the Photolab right now.... I just dont have any media to transfer that image on to the Electronic Imaging CPU.

I guess with May and Crawford gone.... I heard a rumor that Bertuzzi is going to the Maple Leafs, I guess I can stop hating the Canucks again.... soon. I spent a month in Vancouver back in the day and loved it, and thats why I was a Canucks fan before Colorado got a team.

[Breck Bronc]

Congrats to the Oilers, the first #8 seed to ever get to the Stanley Cup Finals. They've had an amazing run so far. I don't think they match up as well vs. Buffalo so they'll probably be rooting for Carolina to win 2 of the next 3 games.

[Jori]

Unless Buffalo gets healthy on the blueline, the Oilers will have the advantage. I actually think the Canes would be a tougher opponent for them, but the biggest opponent will be the time off. Edmonton could get anywhere from 7-10 days off. Recent history isn't on their side. Look what happened to Colorado, New Jersey, Ottawa and Anaheim. Teams that won the previous series in four to five games only to get ousted in the next series because they lost their "mojo" combined with playing against a better opponent. Time off is good, but too much time off isn't necessarily a good thing.

[Breck Bronc]

Originally Posted by Jori

Unless Buffalo gets healthy on the blueline, the Oilers will have the advantage. I actually think the Canes would be a tougher opponent for them, but the biggest opponent will be the time off. Edmonton could get anywhere from 7-10 days off. Recent history isn't on their side. Look what happened to Colorado, New Jersey, Ottawa and Anaheim. Teams that won the previous series in four to five games only to get ousted in the next series because they lost their "mojo" combined with playing against a better opponent. Time off is good, but too much time off isn't necessarily a good thing.

The injuries to Kalinin, Talinder and Numminen have definitely hurt Buffalo. Jeff Jillson is terrible playing defense; he makes Ozolinsh look like Rod Langway. I think Teppo is supposed to play tonight.

I still think Buffalo is not a good matchup for the Oilers and they'd be better served to play Carolina.