Well, I'm glad to see another person who enjoys hockey here.:) There seem to be a lot of us.;):cool:

Thanks. That brought a smile to my face.:)

I was enjoying the hockey until 2010 smacked the Devils in the face and stole their ability to defend for a full 60 minutes.:frown:

Seems like the best way to play the Devils at the moment is to give them a 2-0 lead and watch them fold.:frown:

I'll be glad when we see that back of the Flyers this season they have a 4-1-0 record against us.

Attachment 150641 to Jen and her Flyers again.Attachment 150641


ila, did you watch the Habs-Caps game last night? That 3rd period must have been agony. And scoring an OT winner with only 8 seconds left was a great way to end the Caps 14-game winning streak. At least it saved you the torture of a shootout.

I'm afraid that I missed it. I saw the game in the tv listings, but I got involved watching other programs and completely forgot about it.

It looks like Montreal wasn't the only team that could not hold a lead against Washington, as Ottawa had the same thing happen to them last night(except that the game ended in regulation this time). Ottawa had a 3-1 lead at one point, and then it was 4-3 Washington! Ottawa scored 3 more in a row to make it 6-4 and Washington almost came back. That is two games in a row that the defense of Washington has disappeared.

Varlamov's return to net after missing a long period of time due to injury was not a pretty one.

Talk about a nail-biter. The Bruins scored 4 goals in the 1st period against Tampa Bay, and end up squeaking by with a 5-4 win. It's almost as if they've bought into the notion that they must collapse in the 3rd period just to be consistent with their recent extended streak of losses!

Whew!

Amazingly enough, that was Boston's third straight win.;):)

Shhhhh, don't jinx it. The players don't know they've been winning.

Boston can win all the games they want as long as it's fewer than Montreal.

As a fan of both Boston and Montreal, I can second that sentiment! :)

With all due respect, your post agreeing with ila implies favoritism towards Montreal. If you were a truly equal fan of both, you would want them to be in a perpetual tie from which they cannot escape.

Actually it seems like they are always in a perpetual tie. I don't think that there has been a season in quite awhile where they haven't met in the playoffs.

I was favoring Montreal by my statement. I live in Maine, so I don't really have a "home team." Boston and Montreal are both close by (Boston is probably closer to home), but I don't get Boston games on the tele. I watch a lot of televised Canadian hockey, so Montreal sort of edges out Boston in that respect.

You're lucky, GRH. Out here it's very rare to get a Montreal game. The high poobahs of the Toronto Liberal Broadcasting Wannabe Monopoly Corporation (otherwise known as the CBC) have decided that everyone west of Cornwall wants to watch only Toronto games. The Toronto Sports Network (aka TSN) are almost as bad.

I would have thought that the CBC sports programming would have been consistent throughout Canada. That's odd. Usually the first game shown (in my neck of the woods) is a Montreal game, then they'll televise a Toronto, Vancouver, or Edmonton game which is usually on pretty late into the evening.

One would think that CBC would be consistent, but since Toronto is in the same time zone as Montreal it seems that we are destined to see Toronto games rather than Montreal. As you live in Maine I would guess that you are picking up a CBC signal from Quebec in which case I can understand why you get to see the Montreal games.

We get the Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver games after the Toronto game has finished.

One good thing about my cable stations is that I get a lot of US stations (Atlanta, Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, Seattle, Minneapolis, New York, & Chicago) so I can see Montreal games that are played in the US. I'm also not stuck with watching Toronto games all the time.

ila, that's not going to be a problem in the postseason. ;)

(sorry shadows :innocent:)

:lol:
Don't pick on shadows just yet. He may get the last laugh on us.

Devils 5-2 Predators
 

Looks like the Devils have learned from their recent mistakes and decided to change tactics tonight..."Don't take a 2-0 lead". ;)
And it worked.:)

In his 5th game after the trade Kovalchuk scores his first goal as a Devil and the team romps to a 5-2 victory.:yes:

But that still leaves the Devils with only 5 wins in the last 16 games :( (since that famous 1-0 shootout win in the 'double-shutout' against the Rangers in mid-January).

Maybe Kovalchuk's teammates won't be scared to play alongside him any longer.:yes:

I was sorry to see the Maine Black Bears lose tonight to BU, 7-4. The game was on at the pub where I had dinner. That's a lot of goals, though.

(I always root for the opposing team when BU plays!)

Judging from the pathetic showing last night as they lost 4-0 to ST. LOUIS of all teams, I don't think you have to worry too much about that.:(

Darn Toskala. He had something to do with it, I KNOWSSSS IT!!!!:censored:

I am way behind on my reports, so I am just going to start again with last night's games.

Here are the scores from Feb. 12th's games:

1. Philadelphia beat Montreal 3-2. Philly seems to have Montreal's number right now.:eek:

2. New Jersey beat Nashville 5-2. First goal for Kovalchuk(as daul mentioned above) since being traded. I am sure that is a load off his mind for sure. Parise had a goal and an assist.

3. Vancouver beat Columbus 4-3. Andew Raycrap tried to give this game away early, but his teammates said they would beat him up if he tried to emulate Toskala any more. Afraid of getting pummelled, he shut the door the rest of the game.

4. The Rangers beat Pittsburgh 3-2 in overtime. Gaborik played in this game(after being cut by Lundqvist's skate in practice a few days ago), but left the game soon after. It may turn out to be quite a serious injury.

5. St. Louis beat Toronto 4-0. Toronto beat Toronto 2-0 as they let St. Louis score 2 freaking short-handed goals! Arghahghalgnaotheh=hga! *plop*

6. Atlanta beat Minnesota 3-2. Not much to say about this game.

7. Colorado beat Phoenix 2-1. I'm still miffed about the Leaf game. I need some hugs!!!!:(

Devils 2-5 Hurricanes
 

Obviously not enough of a load off his and the rest of the team's minds... Saturday 13th the Devils were caned 5-2 by the 'Canes. :(:no::censored:

At least they can't lose again this month.:innocent:

Wrong. I am sure they will lose a game again in February....2011.;):p:lol:

Here are the scores from Feb 13th's games:

1. The Islanders beat Tampa Bay 5-4. John Tavares got his first point in quite a few games. Biron was in net again for the Islanders so I am wondering if Di Pietro is hurt again or if they are just resting(which doesn't make much sense with the Olympic break coming up.

2. Buffalo beat San Jose 3-1. Buffalo finally got out of their funk(at least for now) and beat a good team. That being said, I don't think San Jose was firing on all cylinders since they were probably thinking ahead to the Olympics.

3. Philadelphia beat Montreal 6-2. Philly won the home-and-home against the Habs. Halak was not particularly sharp in this one, and after scoring their 3 first period goals Philly never looked back.

4. Carolina beat New Jersey 5-2. I imagine that New Jersey is looking forward to the break, but since their goalie is going to play in the Olympics how is he supposed to get rested? He has looked rather ordinary for a while now, and if they make the playoffs will fatigue be a factor?

5. Boston beat Florida 3-2 in the shootout. Not a pretty win, but a good one for the Bruins. Boston actually came from behind to win this one, rather than their usual coughing up of leads lately. This is now Boston's 4th win in a row. They are clicking at the right time.

6. Detroit beat Ottawa 4-1. Detroit's offense has gotten a huge kickstart by getting Johan Franzen back. He has gotten 3 points in 3 games since his return and looks like he hasn't missed any time at all let alone almost 4 months of hockey!

7. St. Louis beat Washington 4-3 in the shootout. Since having their 14 game winning streak snapped they are winless in two games(having given up 10 goals in those two games, not including the shootout goal).

8. Dallas beat Phoenix 3-0. Second time in 3 games that the Coyotes have been shut out(and the game in between they only scored 1 goal). If Phoenix doesn't find some offense soon, their playoff journey will be over before they know it.

9. Chicago beat Atlanta 5-4 in the shootout. Despite coughing up a 3-1 lead Chicago managed to squeak out the victory.

10. Calgary beat Anaheim 3-1. Iginla had 2 goals in this one, and a couple of former leafs had points in this one as well(White and Stajan each had an assist).

11. LA beat Colorado 3-0. This was a close game until the third period. Kopitar scored the second goal and that seemed to take the wind out of Colorado's sails.

Not only did Montreal forget that they had to actually play the game, they forgot to even show up for the game. Damn that Toskala.

Didn't know Toskala ever played for the Habs. Is it sort of like the ex-Cubs factor in baseball. The teams farthest removed from Toskala have the best chance of winning?

Toskala never played for Montreal. It's a bit of joke for shadows as shadows still blames Toskala (jokingly) when Toronto loses.

And it was only two years previous to that that Toronto won the Stanley Cup. Of course that was the last time that Toronto won the cup.

Yes, his evil ineptitude seeps into many teams. Why do you think that Anaheim is afraid to put him in net?:eek::lol::p

I have only experienced the mystical play of Toskala. If I had been around when those players were still active, I may change my scapegoat. As it stands however....Toskala for the goat!:lol:


And Ila....jokingly?:eek:;):lol:

Here are the scores from Feb 14th's games(last night of NHL hockey until after the Olympic break!):

1. The Rangers beat Tampa Bay 5-2. With Tampa Bay ahead 2-0 after the first period, the Rangers stormed back with 4 goals in the second period! And this was without Gaborik who missed the game due to injury.

2. Nashville beat Pittsburgh 4-3 in the shootout. Crosby had a goal and an assist in this game. The goal was his 42nd of the season and that tied him for the lead with Ovechkin! Hopefully he'll continue his great play for Canada in the Olympics!:)

3. Minnesota beat Vancouver 6-2. I guess Brodeur and Luongo both ate bad food and got sick as that is how one can describe how they both played in their last game before the Olympics! I sure hope they play like they should be able to in the Olympics otherwise we will be in some trouble!:eek:

4. Ottawa beat the Islanders 4-3. The Senators came back from a 3-1 deficit and ended up taking 1st place in their Division with this win.

5. Chicago beat Columbus 5-4 in the shootout. It seems that Chicago wants to give their opponents points as well rather than finish them off in regulation. It is fortunate for Chicago that the Blue Jackets are so far away from them that it doesn't really affect them too much.

6. Anaheim beat Edmonton 7-3. A much better game from the Ducks than their stinker against Calgary the previous night. So, do you think that Ryan Getzlaf wants to play for Canada? He scored 2 goals and 2 assists last night. If his ankle remains good this morning, then he is a go for Team Canada!:cool:

Well, this is it for the hockey reports...at least the NHL ones. I will post the hockey scores from the Olympics.

I will also post the scores from the women's hockey if anybody is interested. If so, just make a post stating that you would like to see it.

Hey SMC, well at least we were rooting for the same team! :) I didn't get to see that game, but it certainly sucks seeing my Black Bears lose to BU.

I'm with you Ila! That game was painful to watch. Especially when the Flyers broke away on Montreal's powerplay to score yet another goal. I pretty much had to start skipping around channels at that point. I still watched the game, but only half-heartedly. It sucks to have been swept.

That pretty much sums up the way I feel about the game and the way I watched the game too.

Women's Hockey at the Olympics.
 

I read earlier that Women's Hockey might be dropped from future Winter Games if the rest of the World don't start closing the gap on Canada and the USA.

18-0 & 10-1 wins for Canada and 12-1 for the USA.

Is there anything that can stop a Canada-USA final? :no:

Aside from the two teams catching a huge bout of food poisoning, not likely.:eek:

Not much fun when it's a two team race.:no:

I watched most of the Canada / Switzerland women's game. I am sure this will sound strange, I must say that Schelling, the Swiss goalie, did a hell of a job. I mean, jeez, she faced 55 shots, most of them coming in rapid succession since the rest of her team seemed incapable of pushing any of the hockey game down to the other end of the ice!

Florence plays for Northeastern University here in Boston and she is an impressive young player.

But shadows is right. It would be more fun to watch a 7-game series against the Canadian and U.S. women's teams than to be witnesses to wholesale slaughter.

I liken it to the "Dream Team" of basketball. Is there really a chance that the US team won't win the gold medal year in and year out? Sure, they had lost a couple of games, but those were during the round robin and the US didn't have any worries about being ousted from the Olympics!(of course, I could be wrong about said importance of those games.;))

My personal wish is that the skill levels of the other teams would be able to be more on par, but for most of those girls this is the only time they really play hockey so they don't have as much practice as the girls in the US or Canada do. That all being said, I also don't want the girls to lose an opportunity to play for their country, so even though I prefer close games I don't want any teams to not show up and deprive anyone of at least being able to play in such a game as the Olympics. And one of the teams will at least be able to get a medal at the Games.

The only ones I despise are the cheats, the ones who get caught(or don't get caught) who are on all sorts of doping agents. Scum!:censored:

Don't get me wrong. I want women's hockey to stay in the Olympics!

But although I just rooted for Canada to win in the men's hockey, I really wish pros were not playing! It's just as bad as letting NBAers play basketball in the Olympics.

By the way, in case anyone is curious, I will root for Canada all the way to a gold in both men's and women's hockey. Not the United States.

Here are the Men's Hockey scores for Feb 16th's games:

1. US beat Switzerland 3-1.

2. Canada beat Norway 8-0.

Russia VS Latvia has not started yet.

Hmmmm. Methinks that some "flogging" is going to be happening at your place shortly.;):lol:

Nice descriptions, though.:cool: It was nice to see the Canadians not take the game lightly. They have to go full-on for each and every game or it could end up like it did in the Juniors where they fall on their face at the end.

Russia is ahead of Latvia 2-0 with 10 minutes left in the first period. With Evgeni Nabokov in net for Russia, Latvia is in a fair amount of trouble.:eek:

ETA: I just hit refresh and it became 3:27 left in the first period. Must be a tear in the space/time continuum to cause such a difference in time left in the period to occur.;)

I wonder what you mean by "flogging" ? ;)

I wonder whether seeing Latvia beat Russia (not likely; Russia's already up 2-0) would help or hinder the flogging, if you mean what I think you mean.

Hockey occurs in the space/time continuum? Then how come I can't find a single theoretical physicist at my university who cares about hockey? I should tell them about that.

I think if Latvia upset Russia, there would be many upset people. There would probably be copious amounts of flogging going on, mainly from loansharks collecting from the losers.:eek::eek::eek:

They do. They just don't discuss it in the same language as the rest of us.:lol:

Wow, I really missed that double-entendre, then. That doesn't happen very often. :):no:

I am glad to see I was successful.;)

It is now 3-0 Russia. Cherry-pic...I mean Ovechkin scored the 3rd goal.:lol:

Remember the men's "Dream Team" didn't win basketball gold in Athens 2004.

They lost twice (Puerto Rico & Lithuania) in the group stages and then lost to Argentina in the semi-final, before claiming the bronze with a revenge win over Lithuania. Bronze... oh the humiliation.:lol:

Unfortunately with so many more European players now playing in the NHL there is no way the pros will be kept out of the Olympics. Sweden, Czech Republic, Russia, etc. wouldn't want to go to the Olympics without their NHL stars.

smc, why "not the United States"?

Don't tell me the whole New England region has become a new Canadian Province since the weekend.:eek:

No, New England has not become a new Canadian province. But go to Aroostook County in northern Maine or the "Northeast Kingdom" of northeast Vermont, and you'd think you were in Canada already.

I don't want to start a political discussion in the Hockey thread. Suffice it to say that I think the United States needs to get its ass kicked more often in the world to teach it, as a country, to behave better. If more details you must have, PM me.

Russia ended up beating Latvia 8-2. At least Latvia wasn't shut out...:eek:

Who would like to bet against the Canadian women being capable of scoring 20 goals in one of their games? I think they could have today if they hadn't decided to lay off the scoring attempts in the first 18 minutes of the 3rd period, until the power play at the very end.

This is getting ridiculous.

But, I should add: GO CANADA!!

Yeah, the Canadian women now hold a 3-0 record and all of the scores have been lopsided victories. They look very happy in all the pictures I've seen of them so far, so I can't begrudge them too much. Go, Canada, GO!:)

They could sit out the rest of the tournament, until the gold medal game, and just use some of the goals they've already scored to secure victories in the next rounds. After all, if distributed properly, they could still surpass what any of their opponents are likely to score.

I wonder if they have the same rules as they do in the World Juniors. The reason the scores are so lopsided in the Juniors is for tie-breaking purposes at the end of the Round Robin set, and if it is the same for the Olympics they would have to do the same just to be safe.

Maybe the Canadian and USA women's teams should be handicapped.

Perhaps Canada/USA could play against a 60 minute powerplay, and a Canadian/US penalty would then mean the underdogs would be playing 5-on-3 hockey.

At least it might restrict the Canadian/USA scoring to single figures.:rolleyes:

Good idea. The score would probably be 9 to 2, if they were held to single figures.

I'm quite sure that they could get a 20 goal game so I won't take you up on your bet.

What I find interesting is all the letters to the editors in various newspapers here berating the women's team for scoring so many goals in a game. I'm glad that they are scoring goals and I don't think that they should slack off and take it easy. They are going to have a hard game against the US and I want to the women's team get used to scoring a lot of goals so that it is second nature to go out and thrash the opposition.

One thing I find that is heartening is that the crowds at the women's game have been cheering for the opposition as well as the Canadian team. That shows true appreciation for hockey and the players.

Hockey drinking game...
 

To make the Canadian and USA women's hockey games more interesting we should introduce shot drinking and forfeit rules.

:yes: Drink a shot of vodka/whiskey/or your favourite drink every time Canada/USA scores a goal.

:no: A forfeit of 60 seconds of push-ups/sit-ups every time Canada/USA concede a goal.


However if the Canadians or the USA had scored 15 goals I'm sure the last thing you'd want to see was their opponents score a consolation goal near the end of the game. Could you do 60 seconds of push-ups/sit-ups after 15 shots?

I rather doubt I'd be able to sit up let alone do sit-ups after fifteen shots. It's an interesting idea though.

What Fran Knows about hockey
 

^Yes and hopefully there is nothing blocking the shot.

I think dauls just has a thing for drunk hockey-playing women. I wonder what that means?

Hello Fran. Nice to see you visit this thread.:):cool:

And your description of hockey is pretty much how it is.:yes:

Looks like Canada wanted to make a game of it. They blew a 2-0 lead(maybe Brodeur thought he was playing for the Devils this particular game?;):p) and had to win it in a shootout(darn it! We can't even escape the shootout in the Olympics!).

Here are the scores from the Feb 18th games:

1. US Beat Norway 6-1. The US team outshot Norway 39-11. Yikes!

2. Canada beat Switzerland 3-2 in the shootout.

Russia and Slovakia start later tonight.

We're not going to be winning any gold medals in hockey if we need to go to a shoutout to beat the Swiss. That was discouraging to say the least. My team is the Oilers, so this year all I have is Canada winning the gold.

I feel your pain. I am a Leaf fan.:(

What did you think of Khabibulin getting the DUI?

Hockey players are human too, we all make mistakes.

A great game, shame it was decided by a shootout! Maybe Canada should think themselves lucky, remember 2006's 2-0 loss to the Swiss.;)

Brodeur was haunted by the dreaded 2-0 lead again. The first Swiss goal was a fantastic shot, but the second via the big deflection off Patrick Marleau's skate was unlucky. Surprised the Swiss were negative and only had 3 shots in the third period and Jonas Hiller didn't deserve to be on the losing side.
Canada will need to play better on Sunday. Only 1 for 7 on powerplays against the Swiss.:no:

What do you think of the Olympics points scoring system?
Win = 3pts, OT/SO win = 2pts, OT/SO loss = 1pt and Loss = 0pts

If the NHL keep the hated OT/SO in the regular season, should they adopt the 3, 2, 1 & 0 points scoring system?:eek:

I hate the shootout so much that it's difficult for me to think clearly about your question. I hate it as much as I hate the designated hitter in baseball. But if my mind unclouds and I can offer a rational opinion, I will post it. :)

When I first read your post, I thought you were making a joke about me being a Leaf fan(I just woke up;)).:eek::lol:

On a serious note, I am just glad that no one was hurt. He has had a really bad year. His back problems were pretty serious. I wonder if it was perhaps his pain medication(I don't know if he still takes them or not since he already had the back surgery) rather than alcohol that made him impaired?

Speaking of shootouts....Slovakia stunned Russia by beating them 2-1 in the shootout! Bryzgalov gets robbed of the win yet again by lack of offense(it has happened to him so many times during the current NHL season when he played with Phoenix)! I wonder if Ila is happy since it was Halak in net for Slovakia?:)

Well, we certainly know that Slovakia's victory is not the result of Zdeno Chara bringing some kind of positive, winning mojo from Boston to Vancouver! :lol:

I knew that any question about the dreaded OT/SO could raise an Attachment 151406 and start a Attachment 151407, but inside 2 minutes!
At least you're composed enough to be able to Attachment 151408


But following Bettman's untimely comments regarding the NHL not being committed to Sochi, Russia for the 2014 Olympics, you never know what mad ideas the Attachment 151409 will come up with.

(a monster indeed;))

I agree about Buttman. He is going to do all he can to sabotage the NHL playing in th 2014 Olympics(whether on purpose or because he is as dumb as a post remains to be seen).:confused:

Yeah, Chara is definitely not having the kind of year that he is capable of.

Nor are the Bruins.:no::frown:

At least they still have a chance to make the playoffs.:) The Leafs? Not so much.:(

As much as I'd like to see the Bruins make the playoffs, I would gladly trade that for the NHL having a reasonable number of teams doing so. I mean, really, no one who comes in worse than second (maybe third, NHL only) in a division ought to be playing in the post-season!

The best description of the game that I heard today was that it was a really intense game; and so it was.

The Swiss coach is originally from Canada and he sure knows how to pick and coach a team.:yes:

I heard a really funny description of the game offered by a drunk guy at the pub near my house, just a short while ago when I dropped in for a beer. He said something like this (I have to paraphrase, because I can't remember the exact words and he was slurring them, too):

"That Sidney Crosby showed those Swiss players. They think they're so great because of their army knives. But he shoved a Molson bottle right through one of those holes in their cheese. Why does their cheese have holes, anyway?"

And then he got off the stool, stumbled to the men's room, and fell in through the door!

I don't have deluxe cable (I only get a few basic channels) and it has really pissed me off that NBC has chosen to broadcast ice skating over hockey and curling matches.

It's too bad that you can't receive a CTV network signal. Then you'd be able to see hockey and curling to your heart's content.

BTW I haven't watched much curling as the circles have been painted the ugliest green that I've ever seen and I find it too hard on my eyes to watch too long.

If one could get drunk enough then I'm sure one could find a lot of wisdom in those words; otherwise it's just funny.

I guess I will be the first one among those rooting for Team Canada to bemoan the loss to the U.S. team tonight in Vancouver. At the same time, being a hockey fan, I must give kudos to Ryan Miller for some of the best work in goal I have seen in a very long time.

What he said.

Agreed as well. As much as I hate to say it, the U.S. team definitely played a superior game.

I agree. Ryan Miller is the main reason that the Sabres are where they are. He has played some phenominal goaltending for most of the season, and I didn't think it would change for the Olympics(unfortunately).

On the other hand, Brodeur did not look sharp for the second straight game. I think Canada should have gone with Luongo in this one, as Brodeur is probably playing tired(his last few games in the NHL should prove this as well). Canada needs to win against Germany on Tuesday, and they need to win by a large margin.

Well, at least I can add my American sentiment...Go USA! We weren't SUPPOSED to win that game, but we did! We'll see where the rest of the games send us!

The Canadian women will be playing for gold! They beat Finland 5-0 today.:)

Well in 4 years i can tryout for the womens USA hockey team as the rules read you have to be post-op for five years

:eek: Jerseygirl Jen

I look forward to seeing you in the Team USA uniform.;):)

I just need to learn how to iceskate
:yes: Jerseygirl Jen

I was shocked. Only 5 goals? Not 15?

Finland always seems to have a good team whether in men's or women's hockey. I was surprised that Finland didn't score any goals.