Stanley Cup THREAD!!!

[MrPrax]

For Pride and Country...
Ladies and Gentleman,

Your Next Stanley Cup Champions!!

The Edmonton OILERS

You Might Want to Go Tell Those Folks in the North Carolina Forum a thing or two about hockey and luckily I started a Thread down there...

And what can the 'Canes' expect from the Oilers when they come North...




And what can the 'Canes' expect from the fans when they come North...

The Anthem

They Just Don't Know Snow... ;-)

[Jazz2006]

1. LOL ~ great thread as is the companion thread ~ ~ ~

:rofl:

[Bassic]

2. Well, the Oilers managed to put their own goalie out of the series

Carolina's going to win this in 4 games :argh: :grr:

[MrPrax]

3. They'll Be Back...

They had the game won and fought it out to the last second...a few adjustments and they got it..

Oilers are rusty from the layover waiting for Carolina to win--

'Canes should enjoy their win...because that's all the Oils will give them...

Boo-Yah!!

[Spazito]

4. Losing Roloson just means the rest of the players have to step

up to the plate more aggressively, imo. They have, imo, been more laid back because they have counted on Roloson but, now, they have to play harder and they certainly can do that.

[MrPrax]

5. Worst. Third. Period. Ever.n/t

[laundry_queen]

6. Word.n/t

[MrPrax]

7. Oh Boy Not Good...

Looks like a bust this year...

Any team that loses 5-0 in a Playoff final probably doesn't deserve it...

Maybe Home Ice will improve things a bit for the Oil...

[daleo]

8. They were down 2-0 against the Sharks

So, there is a chance. Granted, it is slim, given the goaltending situation.

I recall hearing that teams that went down 2-0 in the Stanley Cup final came back 16 times out of 88 - or 25%.

[daleo]

11. That should be "in the Stanley Cup playoffs"

According to what I read today, only one team has come back from 2-0 in the finals.

[Bassic]

9. They deserve it, but heir goalie was taken out

They'll get wiped out in 4 games because of it.

[Bragi]

10. A sad turn of events

Looks like it's time to focus on world cup soccer...

- B

[daleo]

12. Oilers looked a lot better tonight

As for the disputed goals - they got one and lost one, so that seems fair to me.

Those 1988 Oilers looked really sharp against the Bruins in the second game of the double-header.

[Jazz2006]

13. 2-1 is a whole lot better than

3-0

2-1 is "anyone's game" and great hockey.

3-0 would have been more like "desperate and god knows what" hockey (not that it wouldn't have been entertaining, but thankfully, 2-1 was the result.

And yesterday's "coulda been" or "shoulda been" goals mean nothing (I know, I know, of course every goal matters, but you can't argue them after they've been deemed final except for purposes of cold comfort after the fact - not that there's anything wrong with that - but they won the game despite the controversial call and it might even help them in the final few games that it went that way.

(I.e. partly because they'll perhaps learn from it and become more disciplined and partly because the refs don't really like to have TOO many controversial calls in playoff series so they might be less eager to blow the whistle overly quickly in similar circumstances in the next few games when the Oilers are at the net)

No matter what, though...




GO OILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


:D

[Jazz2006]

14. Wow ~ ~ ~

A short handed goal to win in OT? Gotta love it!!

[Spazito]

15. Yep, it was awesome!!!

I am ashamed to say I thought tonight would end it, I am SO glad I was wrong!

[daleo]

16. Yeah, excellent game

There'll be plenty of car door slamming in the streets of Edmonton tonight. Saturday should be extremely loud at Rexall.

[Spazito]

17. I don't think I will go on Whyte Ave on Saturday, lol, which ever way

the game goes, could be wild there again.

[Jazz2006]

18. I'd love to be there....

and would fly out for the game if I could get tickets.

Know anyone selling?

(Please PM me if you do!!!!)


:hi:

[daleo]

19. Best of luck on that

I heard a scalper working his cellphone at a pub on Whyte before one of the games against San Jose, but that's been about all I can report.

[Jazz2006]

20. Yes, I am quite sure that

my chances of finding tickets are worse than slim to none and more like somewhere between "not a chance" and "bwahahahahaha"

But wouldn't it be nice? *Sigh*

I am, admittedly and unabashedly, quite jealous of a colleague who has tickets and is flying out Friday night. Damn, too bad I'm not the ingratiating type or I'd have ingratiated myself more with him :evilgrin:

[Spazito]

21. self deleted, posted in wrong place

[Jazz2006]

22. Lol - yes,

hindsight is always perfect.... and almost always totally useless... but sometimes speculation serves to keep things interesting so don't beat yourself up over it.

You're there, even if you're not at the game, and that is cool all on its own.

Hope you change your mind and go down to Whyte Street and report back as I'd love to hear it :)

That said, totally understand if you don't - as I do realize how crazy it gets.

In any event, I'm still jealous just because you are sooooooo close even if so far :D

[Spazito]

23. Thanks, I noticed I posted my response to my post instead of yours

but you caught it anyway, lol. It sure looks like Saturday will be very much a MUST WATCH game, at home or at the arena!

[Jazz2006]

24. No worries ~

And I was editing my post while you were typing, apparently, but I didn't realize that you'd answered in the interim, so I'm just mentioning it ~ I don't think I changed anything of substance in my post but I did reword it and change the order of what I said because I thought my original post might have been miscontrued or misunderstood as critical when it wasn't at all ~ but I see from your response that you didn't misconstrue it that way at all, so I probably didn't need to reword it at all.

All of that aside, you are lucky lucky lucky lucky lucky stiff and I am a jealous Torontonian wishing I was going to be there on Saturday!

(Is there a green smilie?)

[MrPrax]

25. They're Back!! Yes...

They were pretty sloppy in the second period and we got lucky in overtime--but a win is a win

Go for 7 games and the Cup...

(Hrudey made an excellent comment between periods--anyone hear it? Eastern teams have pretty easy road schedules...they are not used to this type of travel schedule...another trip to Edmonton will wear them out for the sixth game and the trip back will finish them off in the seventh) Yes!

[daleo]

26. Yeah, I liked Hrudey's comments on that (and other things)

Cherry is good for a laugh, but I wish CBC would give Hrudey some of his airtime. It is refreshing to hear an intelligent, well mannered ex-player like him talk about the game. He has some real insights.

I don't know if I entirely agree with his view of the travel, but I guess he knows a lot better than me. Whenever I have had to fly across the country it has taken its toll the next day.

Cherry seems more chippy than usual lately. I guess it is part of the schtick, but his rudeness to Maclean can be offputting.

[MrPrax]

29. Same here...

Cherry does seem a littler 'nastier' than usual...maybe he is still pissed over that 'coaching tips' spat with MacLean or maybe he is grumpy like the rest of us looking at our playoff pool results (Stillman? Drury? wtf?)

But I remember, it might have been Brian Burke when he was GM of the 'Nucks, that when Joseph was trying to get out of Edmonton, that was one of his big complaints--Edmonton's particular travel schedule. At the time he was compalining about something similar about the whole West vs. East travel schedules...he pointed out that the Flyers' players during the season spent only 18 nights outside of their own beds, whereas the Sharks' players basically ONLY got to sleep in their own beds for 27 days.

Indeed, these guys are professionals and let's face it--all sports players move around the league so much that they must have had some 'travel' proofing under their belts...but they are also people with families and 'stuff' and I can imagine that being out on the road so much, while other players don't, might add an unexpected element to their game discpline.

Hrudey may have hit on something--Carolina was sure sluggish and Ward seemed a little slow and the worst part of the schedule is still ahead.

But I doubt it would affect Doug Weight much--he's used it ;-)
(In fact Dougie must feel a little off balance playing a Stanley Cup final in Edmonton for another team anyway...heh )

[CHIMO]

27. Oilers' trip back to Raleigh delayed by airplane woes

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Oilers, already smarting from a home-ice loss on Monday night, had their travel plans go awry en route to Raleigh on Tuesday morning.

A faulty battery in the team's charter jet forced a 10 a.m. departure to be delayed until 12:45 p.m. Edmonton time. With a two-hour time change and a five-hour flight, the Oilers didn't arrive at their hotel until after 7 p.m. ET.

"It was not really much of a day," said center Shawn Horcoff. "Most of the guys knew about it in the morning and were able to stay home and spend a little bit more time with the family."

"It's kind of a blur actually just because we spent the whole day on the airplane. Probably a good thing, just staying together staying close as a group, just kind of going through a day. It's actually a pretty short day," Samsonov said.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs2006/news/story?id=2483049

Wouldn't want that to happen to anyone else. Wouldn't be like a good sport.

[Conker]

28. I'm glad the Oilers won, too.Markkanen isn't playing too bad.

I miss Roloson in goal though.

[gula]

30. While I'd really like the Oilers to win

we are in the latter half of June, the Mondiale is on, so who cares any more.

Since Radio Canada doesn't carry the games anymore and I refuse to watch a network that allows an abomination like DC on its airwaves I haven't be able to watch a single match. WTF is going on here. We frogs aren't good enough to watch hockey anymore?

[daleo]

31. I believe NBC is carrying these games now

So you can watch it there, if you have cable with the U.S. networks and skip Cherry altogether.

[gula]

32. Thanks for the tip

but I don'd have cable

[Jazz2006]

33. Harry Neale at his best....

Context: a brief interview with Stephen Harper between periods; turns out Harper actually does know hockey and is writing a book about the history of the game, etc.

After the interview, Harry Neale: "He should become a scout when he loses the next election."

:rofl:

[MrPrax]

38. LOL!!

OK...you heard it too...!!!!

Man oh man I thought it was my imagination...that was funny...

[Jazz2006]

41. Lol ~ no, that wasn't your imagination

That was what he said. (He did try to play it down shortly afterwards by saying something about coaches not getting their contracts renewed and trying to equate his comment to that kind of scenario but it seemed obvious that the subsequent attempted cover was most likely a result of someone higher up saying "jesus christ, Harry, you can't say that!" and a quick attempt to try to sweep it under the rug, as it were.

Gotta love it!

[daleo]

39. I didn't catch it

But good for him.

We will see if this book ever materializes. Part of me thinks that its just a bit of vaporware, to humanize and Canadianize Harper. But time will tell.

[Jazz2006]

34. Wooooooo Hooooooooooo!!!!! Game 7, it is :D

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

Loved the Ryan Smyth goal and the Horcoff goal ~ ~ ~ ~

Oh, hell, I loved all 4 of them :D

[glarius]

35. Wahoooo....even inflicting Harper on us could not spoil tonight!

GO OILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jazz2006]

42. Indeed!

Go OILERS!!!!

The Harper bit sucked, of course, but the Harry Neale comment afterwards was priceless!

Still, politics be damned,

GO OILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jazz2006]

43. Yeah ~

see #33 re: the Harper interview, though.


Don't let the teflon hair guy take away from the happiness of going to game 7 :D

[Jazz2006]

44. oops - posted in the wrong spot....

but who cares?

On to game 7!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MrPrax]

36. DOMINANCE!!!

It's coming home, boys and girls!!

That's how you play HOCKEY!!!

Boo-Yah!!!

Kudoes to Harry Neal...nice crack...(bet the Reich demands his head tomorrow)

[daleo]

37. Quite a game by the Oilers

The Hurricanes looked pretty tired, or something like that. It does look like the smart money would bet on the Oilers in Game 7 now, but anything can happen. After all, both teams have beat the other three times.

On edit - There are a lot of cars headed to Whyte, horns blaring, passing by my place. I hope it stays civilized.

[Spazito]

40. They are honking and hollering in St. Albert as well, lol

I hope, as well, that all is good on Whyte Ave, I have NO doubt the cops are out in full force. They blocked off Whyte Ave after the last game and didn't let any more cars in, I suspect they did the same tonight.

[daleo]

45. Personally, I think the media goes overboard about the Whyte ave thing

When you consider the numbers of people involved, the crowds have been extremely well behaved. But some police presence is a reasonable precaution.

[Bassic]

46. Tonight is the night!

GO OILERS!

Ps: Who the hell would have thought that Markanen, of all people, would get a shutout in the Stanley Cup Finals. :shrug:

[Spazito]

47. LOL, the only thing that would have made that shut-out a little more

perfect is if it had been 5-0 to match the shut-out Carolina had the game after Roloson was hurt. Markanen has sure proved himself now though.

[mzteris]

49. How y'all liking the game

so far, babeeeeeeeee???

[Bassic]

50. I think McCreary needs to fucking retire,

Otherwise, it was a great game, but the wrong team won it. :P

[mzteris]

51. Wrong TEAM??????

Um - I think the RIGHT team won it - and won it RIGHTEOUSLY!

I LOVE HOCKEY!

wooooooooooo ----- Wooo - Wooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!

[MrPrax]

48. Ron Maclean gets the last word!!!! LOL

Did anyone catch what Maclean said at the end of coach's corner...last one of the season and Don got burned....TOO funny

Go!!!

Oilers!!!

Go!!!

[Bassic]

53. What'd he say?

I missed it? :shrug:

[daleo]

56. Was that the crack about turning your head and a swelled head?

Cherry and Maclean were talking about blocking shots, and Cherry talked about how important it was to turn your head just before the puck takes off. At the end Maclean said something about that, and tied it into the phrase "swelled head" (playing off Cherry's big ego, which they had talked about earlier in the piece). Or was there something else as well?

[MrPrax]

57. No that was it...

Something to the effect that and remember kids to turn your head away from the play because you don't want to end up with a FAT HEAD...as the camera fades and Cherry slowly burns, knowing damn well he can't say anything to the 'weatherman from Alberta', who is also called "Mr Hockey"...LOL

Terrible game--but it's always nice to see Don get the wind knocked out of him when he does get a little too pompous...

I know that's a fav pasttime here ;-)

[daleo]

52. Well, my Oilers lost

But it was close. The goals on both sides were redirects and funny bounces. I give credit to Carolina for bouncing back, same as I give credit to the Oilers for bouncing back earlier. And the Carolina fans seemed like pretty good sports, all in all.

Maybe next year.

[Bassic]

54. Maybe next year we can find a way to bring the cup back to Canada.

If the Sens didn't keep choking in the second round, we'd stand a pretty good chance.

[Jazz2006]

55. Well, it was an admirable attempt ~

And the Oilers did a fine job, even though they weren't able to pull it off.

NEXT YEAR!!

:)