Hockey

[Tbone]

Nice to see a busy thread about what is unfortunately a minority sport in the UK.

Flyers fan since the '97-'98 season, the first season that channel Five (in UK) started showing live hockey. They pulled their coverage at the end of last season. But with no ESPN I've lost my hockey, even if it's on in the early hours of the morning.

Q:Why the Flyers? A: Eric Lindros and all the hype.
A student from Montreal moved into the flat next door to me about 15 years ago. He played hockey and always moaned that he couldn't watch NHL in the UK. He also said he'd played with Eric Lindros when he was younger - at the time Lindros was just about the only player apart from Wayne Gretzky I knew.
Eric Lindros was the big Philadelphia story I couldn't avoid when I was there in 1992. When it was eventually confirmed that he'd joined the Flyers, the Philadelphia media made it sound like the Flyers had signed 'the new Gretzky'. I suppose I now realise their joy in beating the Rangers to his signature.
When Five started showing hockey I picked the Flyers to catch Lindros. Was Lindros worth all the fuss? Clearly the Avalanche benefitted from the trade. Did it cost the Flyers a Cup? Oh, the ifs and maybes of sport.

[shadows]

Originally Posted by Tbone

Nice to see a busy thread about what is unfortunately a minority sport in the UK.

Flyers fan since the '97-'98 season, the first season that channel Five (in UK) started showing live hockey. They pulled their coverage at the end of last season. But with no ESPN I've lost my hockey, even if it's on in the early hours of the morning.

Q:Why the Flyers? A: Eric Lindros and all the hype.
A student from Montreal moved into the flat next door to me about 15 years ago. He played hockey and always moaned that he couldn't watch NHL in the UK. He also said he'd played with Eric Lindros when he was younger - at the time Lindros was just about the only player apart from Wayne Gretzky I knew.
Eric Lindros was the big Philadelphia story I couldn't avoid when I was there in 1992. When it was eventually confirmed that he'd joined the Flyers, the Philadelphia media made it sound like the Flyers had signed 'the new Gretzky'. I suppose I now realise their joy in beating the Rangers to his signature.
When Five started showing hockey I picked the Flyers to catch Lindros. Was Lindros worth all the fuss? Clearly the Avalanche benefitted from the trade. Did it cost the Flyers a Cup? Oh, the ifs and maybes of sport.

Hello Tbone! Nice to see another face in the Hockey thread(well, other sports too, so if you have another sport you want to talk about, feel free!).

[shadows]

*invites Jen and Ila over for a pint so we can drown our sorrows*

*dauls can also come over but since his team actually won, he has to buy the booze*

Okay, here are the scores from last night. I won't post as much, as my relief ended up being late and I was at work 13 1/2 hours!

1. Rangers sqeaked by Ottawa 2-1 in the shootout. Not an auspicious start(due to the shootout) to my hockey report.

2. Calgary beat Toronto 5-2. I still think that Toskala spiked The Monster's Gatorate with Ex-Lax.

3. New Jersey beat Washington 5-2(after being down 2-0). Dauls, I like Rickard's Red so please bring over some when you come by.

4. Buffalo beat Philadelphia 3-2. Jen, I feel your pain. Dauls needs to know what kind of booze you would like.

5. Florida beat the Islanders 5-4 in the shootout. Meh.

6. Detroit kicked Anaheim's ass 7-4. Zetterberg got 3 goals and 2 assists! They are on fire right now, but Osgood(who is rarely "good") has not played in net for a while. Hence, the winning streak.

7. Pittsburgh beat Boston 6-5 in overtime. Malkin got 3 assists. No big surprise that the Pens missed him.

8. LA beat Tampa Bay 2-1 in the shootout. Well, Jen may be happy and sad about this one. On one hand Tampa Bay lost, but on the other it was in a shootout!

9. San Jose beat St. Louis 3-1. San Jose did not get a lot of shots on net, but they made them count.

10. Ila, Dauls needs to know your brand of booze as well. Montreal lost 2-0. They only managed 20 shots on net, but Price was amazing! He made 53 saves and he was the only reason it was even a close game.

11. Phoenix beat Dallas 3-2. Good. I have Bryzgalov in my pool!

12. Vancouver crushed Colorado 8-2! Henrik Sedin had 3 goals in that one. Wow. I was surprised by that score for sure!

Well, another report done. I hope everyone has as much fun reading it as I had writing it. Have a nice day everyone!

[ila]

Originally Posted by shadows

*invites Jen and Ila over for a pint so we can drown our sorrows*

*dauls can also come over but since his team actually won, he has to buy the booze*
10. Ila, Dauls needs to know your brand of booze as well. Montreal lost 2-0. They only managed 20 shots on net, but Price was amazing! He made 53 saves and he was the only reason it was even a close game.

Yea, Price is amazing. Unfortunately it takes more than a goalie to win the game. The forwards have to do their job too and they just weren't doing it last night.

As for my drink of choice, I need an Erdinger Dunkeles Weissbier and in a half litre size none of this wimpy North American 1/3 litre bottles. Failing that I'll settle for a Canadian or a Kokanee.

[transjen]

Originally Posted by shadows

*invites Jen and Ila over for a pint so we can drown our sorrows*

*dauls can also come over but since his team actually won, he has to buy the booze*





4. Buffalo beat Philadelphia 3-2. Jen, I feel your pain. Dauls needs to know what kind of booze you would like.



8. LA beat Tampa Bay 2-1 in the shootout. Well, Jen may be happy and sad about this one. On one hand Tampa Bay lost, but on the other it was in a shootout!

At least it wasn't a total bummer as Tampa lost also, As for my drink of choice well i'm not much of a drinker so it'll depend on where we meet for the drink, If it's my neck of the woods i'll have a BUD ICE if it's up in yours then i'll try a LABATS i thubk thats the beers label i know i messed that spelling up sorry


Jerseygirl Jen

[shadows]

Originally Posted by transjen

At least it wasn't a total bummer as Tampa lost also, As for my drink of choice well i'm not much of a drinker so it'll depend on where we meet for the drink, If it's my neck of the woods i'll have a BUD ICE if it's up in yours then i'll try a LABATS i thubk thats the beers label i know i messed that spelling up sorry


Jerseygirl Jen

No matter if you aren't much of a drinker, Jennifer. It is the company of friends that is more important than the drinks. We could also have a wide variety of sodas and fruit punches available as well.

And don't worry too much about the spelling of Labatt. None of us are perfect, after all.

I will say, in all seriousness, that it would be cool to someday meet the bunch of you(Jen, Ila, dauls, rockabilly and anyone else for that matter) for a Meetup.

I actually had a Meetup last year with a group of people from another forum that I frequent. It was pretty cool. Out of the four of us, three of us were from Ontario(Canada) and the other was from New York(he is actually the owner of said site). He was a really nice host and he paid for all of our meals regardless of our protestations(and he totally blew the New York stereotype out of the water! He was a really nice guy.)

I've also had a couple of other meetups from the now-defunct forum Spacecast.com(a forum from the Canadian television station called Space: The Imagination Station). We all attended a Convention called TorontoTrek(but is now called Polaris) and usually went out for supper to chat. Lots of fun, but can be expensive after getting all the autographed pictures and whatnot(personal favourite was a photo taken with Christopher Judge aka Teal'c from SG1 where he wrote "Jaffa Kree!" on it. One of the nicest guys I have ever met. Totally humble and a great sense of humour. Not your typical celebrity at all!

It is something that rarely happens(since the online world offers so much anonymity), but it is nice when it happens.

Anyhoo, sorry for the MASSIVE derailment of the topic fellow sports fans!

[shadows]

Okay. Now on to the roundup of last night's games. One HUGE surprise, and one suprise of the smaller variety. Here we go!

1. Carolina beat Minnesota 5-4 in the shootout. This definitely counts as a huge surprise as they had a 14 game losing streak!

2. Atlanta beat Edmonton 3-2. Kovalchuk has been on a torrid point streak since coming back from injury. Edmonton has been playing quite poorly after that hot start to the season they had.

3. In a mild surprise(since San Jose has been so good this year) Chicago beat San Jose 4-3 in overtime. Chicago now has won 4 in a row.

Well, tonight is the big game! New Jersey VS Philadelphia. Who will win? Jerseygirl Jen and dauls have a lot riding on this game! Bragging rights for the night(and following day!), so the stakes will be high! One fan will go home happy and the other one will take solace in a Happy Meal! Who...will...it...be?(it certainly won't be ME since my team sucks so bad)

I have a feeling that Philly is gonna pull this one out. 2-1 Philly win.

[ila]

The only live NHL game that I can find listed for tonight is Edmonton at Columbus on Sports Net West. But then I don't get the NHL pay channels and I haven't checked to see what they are showing.

[shadows]

Originally Posted by ila

The only live NHL game that I can find listed for tonight is Edmonton at Columbus on Sports Net West. But then I don't get the NHL pay channels and I haven't checked to see what they are showing.

I just checked and it looks like the Flyers/Devils game will be on TSN2. Unfortunately I just have regular TSN. I believe TSN2 is part of a package and I just have basic cable(good enough for me as I rarely watch television, I just use it to watch DVDs). A shame, as I think that would be a good game to watch.

Just to add, TSN has the NFL game Cleveland Browns vs Baltimore Ravens. Wow. With the Cleveland Browns being such a crappy team this year(and thus, the ratings will probably be horrible) do you think they wish they could have a do-over(or mulligan)? LOL!

[ila]

Originally Posted by shadows

I just checked and it looks like the Flyers/Devils game will be on TSN2. Unfortunately I just have regular TSN. I believe TSN2 is part of a package and I just have basic cable(good enough for me as I rarely watch television, I just use it to watch DVDs). A shame, as I think that would be a good game to watch.

I was just rechecking the listings and I found the Flyers/Devils game listed on TSN2. I get that channel. I'm not going to watch the game, but I will check on it periodically.

[k.sucks.you]

Because of the Anaheim playoff loss last season (on top of the bad blood), the Sharks love to beat Pronger. Philly hasn't beaten San Jose since 2000! We don't play them much of course, but ouch. That's a tough stat.

Tonight was a pretty tight game. Momentum back and forth. Some ugly stuff, but some really beautiful goals. If you can see the two Thornton to Heatley goals, you should. He waits FOREVER to pass it. Everyone is screaming SHOOT, and Jumbo waits it out, threading an insane needle to Heater. Bang.

Thornton 4 assists to resume leadership in the assist race in the league.
Heatley scores short-handed, even, and on the power play to go atop goal scorers in the league. He also leads in power plays.
Sharks get 60pct faceoffs.
ME Vlasic gets his first fighting major. A real accomplishment.


Perhaps a controversial statement, but I see a lot of strength in the west this year. The east has some streaky teams, but noone really stands out to me as threatening. There's not a huge difference of course, and you're not getting a night off against anyone, but after game after game against them, I'd rather play the eastern teams than Chicago or Detroit....

[transjen]

Originally Posted by Tbone

Q:Why the Flyers? A: Eric Lindros and all the hype.
A student from Montreal moved into the flat next door to me about 15 years ago. He played hockey and always moaned that he couldn't watch NHL in the UK. He also said he'd played with Eric Lindros when he was younger - at the time Lindros was just about the only player apart from Wayne Gretzky I knew.
Eric Lindros was the big Philadelphia story I couldn't avoid when I was there in 1992. When it was eventually confirmed that he'd joined the Flyers, the Philadelphia media made it sound like the Flyers had signed 'the new Gretzky'. I suppose I now realise their joy in beating the Rangers to his signature.
When Five started showing hockey I picked the Flyers to catch Lindros. Was Lindros worth all the fuss? Clearly the Avalanche benefitted from the trade. Did it cost the Flyers a Cup? Oh, the ifs and maybes of sport.

And to think we lost a damn good up and coming player at the rime Peter Frosberg for Lindros But on the plus side he packed em in at the home games and the team racked up hugh jersey sales in the end i wouldn't say they got burned as he had a some what decent career but he'c no hall of famer
Jerseygirl Jen