NHL Season 08-09

[Ishido]

Sorry for being away and not being able to throw my two cents in, was in Foxboro for the NCAA lacrosse tourny.

Kronwall's hit was not interference in the least. A game misconduct for that was a joke. Charging could have been called, in my opinion. He has a history of leaving his skates either just before or as he is making some of his big hits, and taking penalties for a lot (but not all, or why would people complain) of them. Not trying to justify what Kronwall does, he's a 5'11" 189lb defenseman so he needed more speed to make the same hits some other guys made when he entered the league, and it became his style. It sucks when something happens like it did to Havlat, I honestly didn't like the result of the hit any more than anyone else. People are up in arms because of the result of the play though, and because of that analyzing the hit. If Havlat gets up after that, everyone says huge hit, nothing happens. The officials clearly didn't think the hit itself warranted a penalty since no arms were up until after the resulting scrum.

Also Brill, there are tons of blindside hits in the NHL. That is one of the reasons so many open ice hits occur, because someone was looking down or somewhere other than where they were skating to. If by headhunting you mean taking opportunities that he is given to make big checks, then sure.

And Selamis, that's not "before contact." That is as contact is happening - hence Kronwall's shoulder touching Havlat's face.

[Brill Weave]

I'm sorry Ishido, I disagree. While I agree that there are plenty of blindside hits, there are very few guys who are really repeat offenders. People like Colby Armstrong and Kronwall for example. But yeah seriously, this thread we've allowed to become the disciplinary thread lol. And how the fuck did Ward blow that save. Good lord I actually felt bad for him.

[Gadritan]

Ward is the reason they're even still in the playoffs though, so we can cut him a little slack.

[Brill Weave]

Wow. Good to see Cole standing up. Good lord that could have been very very bad.

[Selamis]

This isn't looking good at all for the Canes unless a miracle happens with 6 mins left in the game...


Edit: And it's ovah. Good game though on the Cane's part imo.

[Bregor]

At work so no Versus, but I just saw the Talbot goal on Puck Daddy... wow. Go get 'em in the finals, Pens.

In DC homer news, Fedorov reported to be heading back to Russia this fall. Not so much a loss for the Caps as for the NHL, this guy was one of the best in the world and I'm sorry to see him go.

[Gadritan]

Bleh. Grats PIT fans.

[Sepukku]

The march continues! March of the Penguins!!! I think every day for the next week I'll post something Penguins related leading up to Game 1 of the SCF. June 5th, SET THE DATE.

[Ivaden]

SPIT-SHINE YOUR SHOES MABLE, IT'S TIME TO DANCE WITH LORD STANLEY!


I love Lange. I also love the internet, because I got to watch the game. Take that Psychology 101. Although it was very, very hard to stay quiet during lecture.


I'm a bit shocked, very shocked really, that we swept the Canes. I didn't see that coming at all, and I really wanted Boston for this series. GG Caniacs, hope you find your missing Staal. We know they have a tendency to disappear.

[Ishido]

Every Pens game I watch all I see is Scuderi making great plays defensively. Granted I don't watch even close to all of them, but he always seems to be in the right place at the right time.

Canes beat 2 very good teams to get to the ECF, I didn't watch most of that series so I can't really say what really caused them to lose it. I saw a comment about them taking out the biggest obstacles for the Pens though, which is probably true. If the Pens can keep their game up and stop Malkin or Crosby from disappearing they've got a good shot this year.

[Ivaden]

Scuderi is easily our best defensive defenseman. . .



. . . right there next to MARK EATON LOLOL.


No but seriously, Scuds is a beast.

[Selamis]

Watching the game, every time they mentioned Mark Eaton, I couldn't help but think of you BGers with your "no beating Mark Eaton." I've never even heard of the guy until everyone was talking about him on here lol. =/

[Sepukku]

NJ would not have been an obstacle to us. We could've handled them. Boston... perhaps a serious challenge, but a lot of Pens fans wanted Boston instead of Carolina - a lot felt Carolina would be more dangerous. Little did they know their was an Amber Alert in North Carolina for Eric Staal and Cam Ward's skill. And Washington isn't a huge challenge? I mean, they didn't have any D, but every team the Pens have played looked like that. Funny how that turns out.

I got "No Beaton Mark Eaton!" on the jumbotron in Mellon Arena / on the outdoor screen during Game 2 via the texting thing. A couple people also had weird Eaton slogans, but they were gay and No Beaton Mark Eaton was the only one that got a good cheer. Scuds has been shutdown.

Conveniently going home tonight so I'll be able to watch Chicago/Detroit. Go Hawks. Tire those old geezers out. Break Hossa's face.

[Brill Weave]

I'm hoping Detroit wins tonights since they said that the finals could start this weekend. But if they lose the finals won't start until June. Which is fucking retarded. Is it me or has the scheduling been absolutely horrid this year? So many conflicts that resulted in what two or three day breaks inbetween games. Sad. Especially when hockey is starting to make a comeback in the public eye. Not a wise decision.

[Sepukku]

I thought they said "If both series aren't done by such and such date..." they start June 5th? We passed that date, it was yesterday. Both teams had to sweep.

[Evanos]

I recall the date being if both teams were done by Wednesday.

I searched "NHL possible reschedule finals date" on news.google.com and got this fairly ghetto news source, which confims Wednesday date. NHL looks bad with potential scheduling snafu | NationalSportsReview.com Not really sure if any other sources gave different dates.

All we can do is hope that the Wings get this done today so the finals won't be in nearly two weeks.

[Brill Weave]

Seriously scheduling this year has been fucking ridiculous. Whoever they have running this shit needs fired and replaced with a monkey in a diaper.

[Sepukku]

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/453/13319577.jpg

Mark Eaton the Astronaut!

[Brill Weave]

There's something wrong with you. Something horribly horribly wrong. We need that picture to replace that shitty Bagel picture in spam.

[Sepukku]

I like the Gobbue Car though! A couple years ago Thepensblog had a Mark Eaton photoshop sharing contest, and I will be gradually sharing you all entries from it leading up to Game 1.