PHILADELPHIA WINS!

[RedImperator]

Jeremy Roenick gets a shot past Eddie Belfour in OT to eliminate the Toronto Maple Leafs for the second year in a row. Onward to Tampa Bay.

[Worlds Spanner]

HELLS YES! I think Tampa Bay will eat us for lunch, but if they don't, Lord Stanley's cup may well be ours.

I must say that was a real nail biter - should never have gotten tied.

[J]

We just got back from watching the game, you bastards were lucky to win that game and you know it! Even though we lost it was the best hockey game I've seen in a long time. I can't say I like Philly but I hate Tampa Bay even more, so I will grudgingly cheer for you guys in the next round.

My support now goes out to the Calgary Flames, for they are now the last Canadian team left in the playoffs, they are the team that will win the cup this year.

[RedImperator]

We were lucky the third period ended when it did, that's true. But we earned this one--both Roenick goals were just plain beautiful.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Onward to Tampa Bay.

Resistance...is futile.

[President Sharky]

[ESB Luke]NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![/ESB Luke]

Why, why, why, why does Toronto always have to LOSE!!! God dammit, and if there's no season next year, ugh! We better start making some big changes to the roster. Seriously, Antropov and Ponikarovsky need to get the hell out. They suck ass.

Damn you Philly! I hope Tampa bleeds you white!

Go Flames!

Golf Leafs Golf!

[muse]

Damn you Philly! I hope Tampa bleeds you white!

As much as I hate Philly for eliminating our beloved Leafs, the thought of Tampa Bay in the cup finals is just beyond wrong. Tampa Bay for christ sake, they don't even have natural ice in Tampa Bay, I don't think it even snows there! I'm sorry, but cities where they don't have winter don't deserve a shot at the Stanley Cup, it's just not right.

[Phil Skayhan]

I'm sorry, but cities where they don't have winter don't deserve a shot at the Stanley Cup, it's just not right.

Boy, you'll be in a tizzy if it winds up being the Lightning vs the Sharks in the final as I expect it will be.

[RogueIce]

Onward to Tampa Bay.

Resistance...is futile.

Philly... We are yo daddy.

Search your feelings. You know it to be true.

[phongn]

As much as I hate Philly for eliminating our beloved Leafs, the thought of Tampa Bay in the cup finals is just beyond wrong. Tampa Bay for christ sake, they don't even have natural ice in Tampa Bay, I don't think it even snows there! I'm sorry, but cities where they don't have winter don't deserve a shot at the Stanley Cup, it's just not right.

Well, uh, it kinda snowed in 1989 and on occasion it reaches the incredible low of 30F

(I used to live in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, so yes, I know that 30F isn't really cold).

[muse]

Boy, you'll be in a tizzy if it winds up being the Lightning vs the Sharks in the final as I expect it will be.

Yeah, in which case it's a good thing there'll likely be a strike and/or lockout next season, I don't think I'd be able to watch hockey for a while if those two teams make it to the finals.

[HemlockGrey]

Go Flyers! World domination starts with you!

[Robert Treder]

Tampa Bay's probably my favorite team in the East this year (and it's been that way for a while, I'm not just jumping on a bandwagon), but I'm rooting for Philly, because I think the Sharks can beat the Flyers more than they can beat the Bolts.

Oh, and we'll eliminate Calgary, don't worry. Can't have any damned Canadian teams in our National Hockey League finals.

[Master of Ossus]

Tampa Bay's probably my favorite team in the East this year (and it's been that way for a while, I'm not just jumping on a bandwagon), but I'm rooting for Philly, because I think the Sharks can beat the Flyers more than they can beat the Bolts.

Oh, and we'll eliminate Calgary, don't worry. Can't have any damned Canadian teams in our National Hockey League finals.

I'm hoping that the Sharks will beat Calgary quickly, while the Lightning squeek out of Philadelphia utterly wasted. Ideally, it will be a ridiculously physical series, though I realize that Philadelphia's beaten up defense pairings will make that unlikely (everyone saw Tucker's hit on Kapanen, right?).

[Worlds Spanner]

They say Kapanen is fine, we'll see on Saturday. You have to give him credit for fighting, one way or the other!

[Robert Treder]

They say Kapanen is fine, we'll see on Saturday. You have to give him credit for fighting, one way or the other!

Whether or not he's "fine", he's one tough motherfucker. That was a monster hit, and he was obviously in gargantuan amounts of pain. If he hadn't gotten up and wobbled to the bench, and they had stopped play for the trainer to come to him, they might not have scored when they did. Granted, they might have gotten a PP, but a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush.
Much respect to Sami.

[RedImperator]

They say Kapanen is fine, we'll see on Saturday. You have to give him credit for fighting, one way or the other!

Whether or not he's "fine", he's one tough motherfucker. That was a monster hit, and he was obviously in gargantuan amounts of pain. If he hadn't gotten up and wobbled to the bench, and they had stopped play for the trainer to come to him, they might not have scored when they did. Granted, they might have gotten a PP, but a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush.
Much respect to Sami.

I saw that hit. The Flyers are muttering about a cheap shot, but I'm not convinced. Those two cross checks to the back of Jeremy Roenick's neck, those were cheap shots, and the fact the Toronto player involved wasn't suspended by the league goes a long way towards illustrating what's wrong with the NHL today. </rant>

[Robert Treder]

I don't think it was a cheap shot, I just think it was a nice, big hit.

But I agree that officiating tends to be inconsistant. An even worse trend is all the diving shit that's been going on. It's totally inexcusable and unprofessional. And as if a dive isn't bad enough, the diving player often turtles and cries like a bitch in an attempt to draw a penalty.

Of course the most notable instances have been for Montreal, especially Ribeiro. But just in the last game of the Sharks/Avs series, Selanne took an extremely obvious dive that drew a penalty and ended up leading to the Avs' only goal. Then as the last minutes of the game are ticking away, Selanne gets knocked kind of awkwardly, and he just lies on the ice bawling until the trainer comes out. But then he doesn't even go to the locker room, and in fact, he goes out for his next shift looking 100%.
Forsberg also took a dive at the end of the game, and drew a penalty for his theatrics.

There's a damn rule about this, and I don't know why it isn't called. If neither ref sees the start of the dive and isn't sure whether or not to call it, they should be able to call up to a video judge via headsets and see whether to call the trip/high stick/whatever or the dive.
They should also put in a rule that if the trainer has to come on the ice to see you, you can't play for the next ten minutes or something.

[aerius]

I saw that hit. The Flyers are muttering about a cheap shot, but I'm not convinced. Those two cross checks to the back of Jeremy Roenick's neck, those were cheap shots, and the fact the Toronto player involved wasn't suspended by the league goes a long way towards illustrating what's wrong with the NHL today. </rant>

The Tucker hit on Kapanen was a clean crushing bodycheck. Perfectly legal and nothing iffy or flaky about it, just a clean solid hit. I didn't see the crosschecks on Roenick you mention since I was watching the game live & didn't have the benefit of TV closeups & replays. Plus I was being distracted by my GF and I was somewhat drunk but that's another story.

Diving, that totally fucking pisses me off, what the fuck is this, soccer? This is HOCKEY, it's a man's sport, take it like a man you fucking pussies! Don Cherry did a huge rant on this a few years back, he was praising Steve Yzerman for staying on his feet and getting the puck where it needs to go instead of diving to draw a penalty like some other players were doing. I believe he said something about good old Canadian boys and European weenies in that rant.

[Master of Ossus]

They say Kapanen is fine, we'll see on Saturday. You have to give him credit for fighting, one way or the other!

Kapanen's got GUTS to get up like that and get to the bench. I hope he isn't seriously injured, but you have to respect him for that play.

As for whether it was a cheap shot,

What.

The.

Fuck?

Kapanen was PLAYING THE PUCK, he hit him with his shoulder, and he hit Kapanen from the front. It was a huge hit, but you can't call a penalty just because the guy on the receiving end was hurt. That's one of the things that bothers me most about the officiating: whenever someone gets hurt they call it boarding, which makes people lose respect for the game.