Hockey 2010-2011

[smc]

Originally Posted by shadows

I guess it's safe to say the weak goaltending continued for Philly. If they keep this up it will be a short series indeed!

I heard a lot of comments at tsn.ca wondering why Paille(I think that was his name) got a penalty for being on the receiving end of Pronger's slash. To any of you that watched the game, was the penalty(tripping) warranted?

Vancouver was outplayed tonight and tried to sit back on their 1-0 lead. It almost worked, but they gave up the tying goal with less than two minutes left. Vancouver needs to play like they did in game #1, as sitting back(especially in the playoffs) is not a good idea. Vancouver lost 2-1 in 2OT.

I realize this may sound biased, but I don't think the reciprocal penalty was warranted. On the replay, I could see no evidence that anyone but Pronger did anything against the rules. That was backed up by the Flyers fan I spoke to last night who was at the Wells Fargo Center.

[shadows]

Originally Posted by smc

I realize this may sound biased, but I don't think the reciprocal penalty was warranted. On the replay, I could see no evidence that anyone but Pronger did anything against the rules. That was backed up by the Flyers fan I spoke to last night who was at the Wells Fargo Center.

Just because you don't agree with a penalty call doesn't mean you're biased. After all, the refs sometimes make the most mind-boggling calls ever seen!

[shadows]

I think if Detroit wants to actually make a series of this, then they better play a full game rather than try and play catch-up in the third period. They looked like a haggard, old team for the second game in a row. They need to wake up otherwise it will be a quick series.

Tampa Bay is currently ahead of Washington 1-0 in the second period of play.

[smc]

During the Bruins-Canadiens series, I mentioned the antics of the Habs players a couple of times. Kevin Paul Dupont, the excellent hockey writer for The Boston Globe, took up this issue in detail in yesterday's paper, showing great respect for the Canadiens in general but calling out this behavior. It's worth reading by any serious hockey fan.

A couple of bad actors bring Canadiens down

Hockey Notes
May 01, 2011|By Kevin Paul Dupont

Four days after the Canadiens packed their bags at the Garden, some troubling thoughts linger about Les Glorieux? inglorious behavior in Game 7.

The first regards defenseman P.K. Subban, who is already a special player at age 21. Elite skills. Tremendous wheels. A shot manufactured by Raytheon. The slapper he unloaded for the tying goal (3-3) off a Tomas Plekanec feed had that lightning-and-thunder quality to it, a page torn from the book of hockey mythology. Had the setting been the Bell Centre and not Causeway Street, I suspect the roof would have caved in and the game replayed elsewhere.

With that kind of talent, there is no need for Subban to include method acting in his bountiful tool kit. Make that shameless, disgraceful method acting.

Subban did more than his share of fakery throughout the seven games, but the worst of it came in Game 7 with just under three minutes remaining in the first period.

Tangled up with Boston?s Greg Campbell on the rear wall in Montreal?s end, Subban performed a histrionic flop to the ice as both players moved off the fence. No penalty whistled.

We won?t tie up column inches here over the failure of the refs to call unsportsmanlike conduct/diving throughout the series. Pointless. Bad refereeing is like bad ice. Shut up, deal, find the next opportunity, and hope the guys in stripes get it right.

What made it worse, and pushed Subban?s antics to the level of travesty and disrespect for the game, came moments later. The Garden?s in-house camera caught Subban, seated among his pals on the bench, watching the replay on the arena?s big board.

He was loving the show, so much so that he flashed a huge grin, as if to say ? well, who cares what he was thinking? The smile alone conveyed that he enjoyed his amateurish prank and was delighted to get off scot-free.

Hmm. Was it coincidence that his teammate, Andrei Kostitsyn, was whistled for high sticking only 41 seconds later? Let?s hope not. Let?s hope it was the officiating crew delivering a reminder that the NHL is supposed to be the stage where the world?s most talented pros perform.

WWE has its place on the sports menu, and if Subban wants to take his talents there, the bet here is that he?ll be a humongous talent in that arena, too. But now would be a fine time for the rookie to choose whether he wants sport or spoof.

Such stunts bring down everyone, including Subban?s teammates, his opponents, the officiating crew, the game itself. If he thinks it?s all a yuk, then why should anyone else, especially the paying customers, think differently?

True, far worse things have happened on the ice and around it. Compared with some of the concussions and other serious injuries we?ve witnessed in recent months and years, Subban?s antics are but petty tomfoolery, which is also to say they have no place in the game.

Someone who cares enough about the august Montreal franchise, or perhaps someone in NHL headquarters, should have a sitdown with Subban and explain the collateral costs of acting like the class clown. Act like Bozo long enough, people laugh at you, not with you. Ditto for the company you keep and the company that employs you.

Later in the night, at about 10:39 of the third period, fellow Hab Roman Hamrlik, age 37 and nearly a 20-year NHL vet, also tried to play the refs for fools with his pratfall along Boston?s right wall. He collided with Boston center Chris Kelly, dropped as if pole-axed, and remained down ? perhaps half-hoping that some Montreal viewer would dial 911? Again, no call.

The next few seconds really made it interesting and risible. Kelly headed down ice and promptly knocked in the go-ahead (3-2) goal at 10:44, the one that Subban?s sizzler would negate with 1:57 remaining in regulation. Hamrlik, by remaining on the ice and trying to tease out a call, left Kelly and his pals with what amounted to a power play (not that Boston?s 0-for-21 power play was of much concern).

?The way [the Montreal] power play was going, part of me says, ?Do you blame him?? ?? noted Boston defenseman Andrew Ference. ?I mean, if they are going to get that call ???

No doubt, considering how the Habs were clicking on the man-advantage, and how they often got the refs to buy into their, shall we say, methodology, why not? Subban?s blast at 18:03 came on the power play.

But what kind of player, what kind of team, is playing that angle in a Game 7, with less than 10 minutes to go, with the score 2-2? No doubt embarrassed, the faking Hamrlik bolted upright and raced into the zone after the goal to argue the non-call with the officiating crew. He sure didn?t look too hurt. Humility, some kind of elixir.

For all the Habs hate in this town, I suspect many would agree, perhaps begrudgingly, that there has always been something special, dignified, classy about the Montreal franchise. I?ve always felt that way, admired who they are, what they?ve done. Until now.

Even in the horribly diluted, sometimes gimmicky (see: shootout) Original 30, Les Canadiens remained the game?s crown jewel, a presence, a symbol of quality and success deserving of respect.

To this day, Jean Beliveau is a regular visitor to the Bell Centre, and there remains an undeniable aura around the 79-year-old Le Gros Bill, similar to that of Joe DiMaggio when he visited Yankee Stadium in his latter years.

It?s not just Beliveau, but about all the things he did while wearing that CH crest, how often his team won the Cup, how exceptional and talented and unique the Canadiens were in their time, their sport, their society.

Now, to see Subban and Hamrlik act like buffoons, it doesn?t take away from anything Beliveau did, or what the likes of Maurice Richard, Guy Lafleur, Ken Dryden, Patrick Roy, or scores of other great Habs accomplished. Sadly, though, it takes the greatest franchise in NHL history and makes it just another team, in just another city, and pulls another 29 teams and cities down with it.

There is a price to be paid for faking, a price that goes beyond L?s in the standings. If the Canadiens allow such nonsense to continue much longer, allow decades of equity and image to disappear, they will find out the true cost of those jokes that Messrs. Subban and Hamrlik tried to sell here last week.

Time for the Habs to decide, are they a class act or classless actors?

[smc]

^ Not a single comment on the post above? Are all the Forum's hockey fans in such awe of the Bruins' Tim Thomas that they simply cannot think about anything else?!

[transjen]

DAMN!!! looks like the Flyers want to do it the hardway agian this year
Flyersfan Jen

[smc]

Originally Posted by transjen

DAMN!!! looks like the Flyers want to do it the hardway agian this year
Flyersfan Jen

Regardless of how misguided it may be, or regardless of whether I end up eating these words, that's the kind of eternal optimism that we could all use a little bit more of, all the time!