Hockey

[shadows]

Originally Posted by k.sucks.you

Sharks!
Our year!
:-)

Welcome to the forums!

They are playing very well this year(so far), but we should wait and see how they perform in the playoffs before we will know for sure. Even as a fan, you will probably agree that they have a habit of playing badly in the playoffs.

[shadows]

Okay. Here are the scores. I will place the Devils score at the very bottome of the post with ***DEVIL'S GAME SPOILERS*** above and below it so that dauls can watch the game unaware of the outcome. Allrighty, here we go!

1. Florida beat Boston in the shootout, 1-0. Boston lost, but Thomas still got the shutout(his second in a row!) unfortunately for me and my chances in the pool. Sounds like it was a boring game, at least if the score is any indication.

2. (For Jen) Philadelphia kicked Ottawa's ass, 5-1! I thought it was going to be a close game once Ottawa tied it up, but Philly just pulled away. I'll bet Emery had an extra large smile on his face when this one was completed.

3. Atlanta beat the Rangers 5-3. Darn it Lundqvist! Start playing better! You have yet to give me a point since I traded away Cam Ward to get you. Grumble, grumble.

4. Tampa Bay beat Minnesota 4-3 in the....wait for it....are you reading Ila and Jen....the SHOOTOUT! Yay! Or not.

5. Detroit beat Vancouver 3-1. Dang it! Another goalie that didn't give me points tonight! Play better Vancouver(or at least win please!).

6. Nashville beat St. Louis 3-1. I can't say I care about either of these teams, so...moving on......

7. (For Ila) Montreal beat Phoenix 4-2. While I am happy for you Ila, I wanted Phoenix to win(and get the shutout) just for the fact that I have Bryzgalov in my pool(and would have gotten 7 points for that!).

8. Dallas beat San Jose 3-2 in the shootout. Hmmmm. Another shootout tonight? Well, I am happy that Dallas won since too many other people in the pool have Nabokov and if he had gotten the shutout(like I thought he was going to during the third period) I would have been down even more points! The new member that posted their first post in this thread won't be too happy with that final score, I would imagine.

And finally, game number 9!


***DEVIL'S GAME SPOILER***












The Devil's won 4-1. They played well again. 9-0(or is it 10-0?) on the road now. Congratulations dauls.








***DEVIL'S GAME SPOILER ENDS***

[dauls]

Originally Posted by shadows

Okay. Here are the scores. I will place the Devils score at the very bottome of the post with ***DEVIL'S GAME SPOILERS*** above and below it so that dauls can watch the game unaware of the outcome. Allrighty, here we go!

~~~

***DEVIL'S GAME SPOILER ENDS***

A thorough game summary shadows. Thanks for the ***SPOILER***, but if I'd gotten that far before I'd seen the game I don't think I'd have had the self control to stop myself from scrolling any further down, especially trailing 1-0 at the end of the 1st period.

That's 9-0-0 on the road, and a win streak of 7. A good start to the season, but they've only played 17 games, a long way to go before worring about the Devils in the Stanley Cup ruining my sleep.

Probably be a month before the Devils appear on ESPN in the UK again.

[shadows]

Originally Posted by dauls

A thorough game summary shadows. Thanks for the ***SPOILER***, but if I'd gotten that far before I'd seen the game I don't think I'd have had the self control to stop myself from scrolling any further down, especially trailing 1-0 at the end of the 1st period.

That's 9-0-0 on the road, and a win streak of 7. A good start to the season, but they've only played 17 games, a long way to go before worring about the Devils in the Stanley Cup ruining my sleep.

Probably be a month before the Devils appear on ESPN in the UK again.

Does that mean I should skip the spoiler warning next time?:D

They are clicking right now, big time! Zach Parise is proving that last season was not a fluke. He can challenge for the lead in scoring, and all of this with a Devil's team that is built to play low-scoring games due to a defense-first mindset.

[shadows]

And here we go with tonight's scores. I warn you, gentle readers, that with it being Friday the 13th there will be some frights in store for you(especially with Toskala in net! Remember! You have been warned!!!

1. Washington beat Minnesota 3-1. No big surprise there since the only team that hasn't beaten Minnesota lately are the Leafs. *grumble* Leafs! Ovechkin did not play, but it sounds like he will play on Saturday. Darn.

2. The Islanders beat Carolina 4-3 in overtime! All I can say is that one team was going to win. It was a crapshoot as to which one it would be(as they are both not very good teams this year, with Carolina taking the lead in the craptitude race).

3. Columbus beat Anaheim 3-2 in the SHOOTOUT! RUN ILA!!!! The shootout is gonna get'cha!

4. Buffalo beat Calgary 2-1 in the, dare I say it?..., shootout! See? I told you there were lots of frightful tales this dreary night(well, it wasn't really dreary as the weather was quite nice for November).

5. In a truly dreadful massacre, Atlanta totally moiderlized *nyuk* *nyuk* *nyuk* LA 7-0. Halloween came late for these two teams as Atlanta got lots of treats and LA got nothing but a big bag of flaming poo placed on their porch. Poor LA. Don't step on the....ooooh too late.

6. And last, and most certainly least, Chicago beat Toronto 3-2. Kessel got two goals(4 goals already!) for Toronto, but my taste for the game was sullied by the fact that "no glove" Toskala was in net. Well, I guess I can take solace in the fact that he didn't give up 7 goals like LA did.

And there you have it, boys and ghouls! Another edition of Hockey Horror is finished. Be safe and do not step on any flaming bags of poop on your porch.

P.S. I am neither drunk nor tippy. I just have a weird sense of humour(well, I hope that you find it humourous! )

[ila]

Originally Posted by shadows

6. And last, and most certainly least, Chicago beat Toronto 3-2. Kessel got two goals(4 goals already!) for Toronto, but my taste for the game was sullied by the fact that "no glove" Toskala was in net. Well, I guess I can take solace in the fact that he didn't give up 7 goals like LA did.

I was wondering, shadows, has Harold Ballard come back to life and taken ownership of the Leafs again? He really hated to see the Leafs win and managed to destroy a great team.

[shadows]

Originally Posted by ila

I was wondering, shadows, has Harold Ballard come back to life and taken ownership of the Leafs again? He really hated to see the Leafs win and managed to destroy a great team.

ILA! Bite your tongue! Friday the 13th is over, and it is no time for tales of horror(of course, if anyone could rise from the dead and strike fear in hearts of hockey fans everywhere, it would be Ballard.)!

In all seriousness, I wonder sometimes.

[transjen]

Glad the Flyers won :D But bummed that Tampa won
Jerseygirl Jen

[shadows]

Originally Posted by transjen

Glad the Flyers won :D But bummed that Tampa won
Jerseygirl Jen

Due to it being a shootout victory, right?

[transjen]

Originally Posted by shadows

Due to it being a shootout victory, right?

No i just hate Tampa be it the BUCS,RAYS,LIGHTING i just hate Tampabay sports teams and anyway no NHL team should be in the south to start with


Jerseygirl Jen

[k.sucks.you]

Originally Posted by shadows

Welcome to the forums!

They are playing very well this year(so far), but we should wait and see how they perform in the playoffs before we will know for sure. Even as a fan, you will probably agree that they have a habit of playing badly in the playoffs.

I don't blame anyone telling the Sharks: "We won't worry about you until the playoffs". For sure they deserve to hear that 1000 times. :-)

Nevertheless, we've retained or added to the offensive firepower from last year. We've also added grittiness, toughness, and intensity.

It rubs both directions. Our top lines are acting more gritty; fewer shots, but more checking and grinding. Our third and fourth line start trying to score. All four lines can score against anyone now.

On top of our game, we're hands down the best in the league. There's still occasional bonehead mistakes, and this magical dust that seems to come and go (as in all sports).

If the Sharks spend the rest of the regular season, not winning games, but learning how to be consistent, it's our year!

[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.

[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

[shadows]

Originally Posted by k.sucks.you

I don't blame anyone telling the Sharks: "We won't worry about you until the playoffs". For sure they deserve to hear that 1000 times. :-)

Nevertheless, we've retained or added to the offensive firepower from last year. We've also added grittiness, toughness, and intensity.

It rubs both directions. Our top lines are acting more gritty; fewer shots, but more checking and grinding. Our third and fourth line start trying to score. All four lines can score against anyone now.

On top of our game, we're hands down the best in the league. There's still occasional bonehead mistakes, and this magical dust that seems to come and go (as in all sports).

If the Sharks spend the rest of the regular season, not winning games, but learning how to be consistent, it's our year!

As much as it hurts for me to say it(as I do not have any respect for Heatley for what he did to Ottawa, and I'm not even an Ottawa fan!), but Heatley has changed that team for the better. He gives a huge offensive boost to an already offensively-heavy roster. One thing I wonder about is whether the layoff for the Olympics will slow down any of the hot teams?

And how about Dan Boyle? 22 points for a D-man! I'm glad I've got him in my pool. I think he will be able to keep up the pace all year and win the Norris(if he can keep his +/- respectable).