Official NHL/hockey thread

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Originally Posted by N. Jones

New Jersey is going to beat the Rangers because the Rangers can't beat NJ and their captain is the uninspired Jaromir Jagr.

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Well, in regular season it was 7:1 for Rangers against Devils...

My predictions:
Montreal vs Bruins - Habs in 5. Bruins will have nothing against Habs, loss of Koivu can impact Habs though.
Pittsburgh vs Ottawa - Pitts in 5. Hossa, Malkin, Crosby will be too much to handle, especially as Alfredsson will be out.
Philly vs Caps - Caps in 6. Fedorov has always shone in playoffs.
Rangers vs Devils - Devils in 6
Ducks vs Stars - Stars in 7 . Toughest to predict, these are both teams that could go all the way.
San Jose vs Flames - SJ in 6. Two teams I both quite like, but Phaneuf won`t save Flames against the superior talent of SJ. But if he can dominate against Thornton and Co in the first two games and get to them, it might change the series completely.
Detroit vs Nashville - Detroit in 4. Or Detroit could collapse, has happened before. But they are just too strong IMO.
Avalance vs Minnesota - Avs in 6. Forsberg, Hejduk, Sakic. Minnesota won`t handle it.

Just wanted to say that things are currently looking quite good for Great Britain in the World Championships Division 1

Results so far:

Great Britain 1-2 Poland (PS)
Austria 10-5 Great Britain
South Korea 1-4 Great Britain

Remaining Matches:

Great Britain v Netherlands
Kazakhstan v Great Britain


Table:


1 Austria 9
2 Kazakhstan 8
3 Poland 8
4 Great Britain 4
5 Netherlands 0
6 South Korea 0

Sens are the first team to be eliminated from the NHL playoffs.

Nashville and Detroit series tied at 2. Who woulda thunk :mark:

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Originally Posted by schmenke

Sens are the first team to be eliminated from the NHL playoffs.

Nashville and Detroit series tied at 2. Who woulda thunk :mark:

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Indeed.
I did think, though, that if Nashville can win one, they can do real damage to Detroit. For some reason Detroit is one of those teams that at times collapses against a weaker opponent in playoff (as they did with Edmonton few years back).
While logic would say that Detroit will win the next games, I am far from sure at this point and would even consider a bet on Nashville for overall win of series.

I didn`t get to see any Sens vs Pens games. Were the games more about Ottawa underperforming or Pens really being so strong?
IMO, any team will have it hard to beat the pens, they have all the required components for a great cup run, although I do have some doubts about Fleury. But when you have Malkin, Crosby and Hossa, you can manage.

nice game from the Caps, stave off elimination with a 3-2 win. :)

The Wings are a bunch of playoff chokers the past few years...if they make it past my Preds, they'll get killed by the Ducks/Stars in the next round or the Sharks in the finals.

What the heck is going on with the Habs? They should be killing Boston. :laugh: Normally I wouldn't care about the East except I want to see Benedict Kessel's team lose! :D

PS...Go Wild & Preds! :cheese:

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Originally Posted by tstran17_88

...What the heck is going on with the Habs? They should be killing Boston. ...

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I had my doubts when Huet was traded, leaving the team with two rookie goalies heading into the playoffs. Price let in 10 goals in the last two games. That's not how a team wins playoff hockey :down:

And the return of Koivu didn't necessarily help :mark:

The Wild and Preds are now both golfing, as are the Ducks and Devils :D

GOOOOO HAAAABS!

...did I er? :erm:

Final night of first round. I'm hoping for Flames and Philly :up:

my Caps lost. :(

So did the Flames :mark:

Philly in Montréal Thursday night :bounce:

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Originally Posted by schmenke

The Wild and Preds are now both golfing, as are the Ducks and Devils :D

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Didn't expect the Preds to beat the Wings, but I thought the Wild would get by the Av's. Gaborik forgot to show up for that series.

I'm pulling for the Sharks to win it...Pavelski was one of my fav's when he was with UW.

Habs and Stars for me.

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Originally Posted by A.F.F.

Habs and Stars for me.

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I've thought that. It would be interesting - Gillett v Hicks, mmm, what a thought!

Habs and Wings in the finals.
Although I hate to say it, I think the Pens have a chance too... :mark:

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Originally Posted by schmenke

Habs and Wings in the finals.
Although I hate to say it, I think the Pens have a chance too... :mark:

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No they won't. They have Habs in their path to finale ;)

Well, now my real hope is that Penguins and that diving crosby won`t win. Someone should kick the hell out of this little diving ****.


San Jose is really struggling to match Dallas at the moment and Avs has no chance against Wings :(

I don't think Carey Price is ready to carry the Habs to playoff glory. It's looking to me like an all Pennsylvania in the East.

It also looks like Detroit/Dallas in the West as Colorado just cannot seem to slow Detroit down and the Sharks were done in the first round, not aggression getting to the offensive zone and no physical play all the way around. They are just leaving Nabokov to do all of the work.

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Originally Posted by A.F.F.

No they won't. They have Habs in their path to finale ;)

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That's assuming they get by the Flyers. ;)

Currently I am ashamed to be an Avalanche fan.

Injuries aren't helping against Detroit but 8 of the last 9 periods were very bush league and just flat out bad.

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Originally Posted by tstran17_88

That's assuming they get by the Flyers. ;)

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I hate to agree....

Habs vs. Flyers seem to be only tight pair of the remaining. Stars, Wings and Penguins seem to be just cruising to semifinals.

Just awful playoffs. All the teams I like are doing badly and the hated penguins and flyers are doing well :(

Oh well, Go stars

Pens are looking good. Haven't lost a game yet. :s hock:

If Pens will the Cup, my bitter opinion is that is too much too for Crosby and Malkin :devil:

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Originally Posted by Garry Walker

Just awful playoffs. All the teams I like are doing badly and the hated penguins and flyers are doing well :(

Oh well, Go stars

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I feel your pain...my two fav's (Minnesota & Nashville) lost in the first round and the Sharks (my next pick) are about to loose to the Stars. Now I'll just spend the rest of the playoffs hoping that the Wings get killed.

Ohhh....tough nuts for the Habs!

But, what pains me the most is that some of the guys that killed the Habs used to be with Nashville and Milwaukee...especially Scottie Upshall, which we traded for that waste of space Peter Forsberg.

Sorry Schmenke. Habs do not rule.

Apparently Stars want to proceed the hard way :mark:

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Originally Posted by A.F.F.

Apparently Stars want to proceed the hard way :mark:

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That's not a bad thing...the longer the Wings have to wait, the more they'll be out of game shape! :cheese: (I know it's a reach!)

I watched the penguins vs rangers game last night and the referees were shocking. I have seen such joke very rarely in professional leagues.
2 of Penguins goals were offside, they got away with double-minor high-sticking with blood drawn call. It was like Gary Bettman had given orders to make sure Penguins (and diving Crosby) get through quickly. Complete joke.

Well, now I can only hope that either Wings or Stars win it, although I have no particular like for either and that penguins don`t win it.

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Originally Posted by Garry Walker

Well, now I can only hope that either Wings or Stars win it, although I have no particular like for either and that penguins don`t win it.

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I hear you Garry.

My order is if not Stars then Philly, and if not Philly then Detroit. Penguins is not a possibility for me.

Few words about IIHF tournament in Canada.

Seems that the host team Canada is way strongest overall. First pick for gold. Russia has also highly skilled team but unfortunately they lay on one mediocore goalie now. I guess their hockey goverment is doing everything to get Nabokov to the games. Chech always dangerous as well as USA.

We have a very good team in together, especially when Saku Koivu is joining in couple of days. But still we managed to give Norway one point :down: Germany made first surprise by winning Slovakia, even they don't have their highest level players in. Should Finns win Slovakia and Norway wins Germany, Slovakia is out :eek:

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Originally Posted by A.F.F.

I hear you Garry.

My order is if not Stars then Philly, and if not Philly then Detroit. Penguins is not a possibility for me.

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Why do you not like penguins? After all, all those teams have finnish players playing for them, although one has to admit that Ruutu is a dick.

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Originally Posted by A.F.F.

Few words about IIHF tournament in Canada.

Seems that the host team Canada is way strongest overall. First pick for gold. Russia has also highly skilled team but unfortunately they lay on one mediocore goalie now. I guess their hockey goverment is doing everything to get Nabokov to the games. Chech always dangerous as well as USA.

We have a very good team in together, especially when Saku Koivu is joining in couple of days. But still we managed to give Norway one point :down: Germany made first surprise by winning Slovakia, even they don't have their highest level players in. Should Finns win Slovakia and Norway wins Germany, Slovakia is out :eek:

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Finland vs Norway was a shocking game almost. After the first 3-4 minutes I expected it to be 6:0, because finns were so dominant.

Russians have gotten Nabokov, also Tyutin from rangers and Markov from habs. They are dangerous as always (How could you not be dangerous with Ovechkin and Kovalchuk playing for you?), but I still have some doubts.

With Saku joining Finland, they will be better, but I have some doubts about your goalies this time.

Canada will obviously be very hard to beat.

Yes, our guys did not prepaire them self well against Norway, Russia looks stronger now if they got Nabokov, but the disiplin always has been a problem for them. I agree Canada is clear favorite. Our strenght has always been good coaching and not too many "big stars", I hope that will take our team to the medal games this year too.
Been enjoying to watch proper hockey now again.

swedish papers believ "Tre Kronor" is worse than for a long time this year. Beating France with 9-0 didn´t make anything better since France had a decent first period.
Wow BTW! i just posted in tha icehockey thread :D

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Originally Posted by Magnus

swedish papers believ "Tre Kronor" is worse than for a long time this year. Beating France with 9-0 didn´t make anything better since France had a decent first period.
Wow BTW! i just posted in tha icehockey thread :D

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Why is so many Swedes refusing to come and play for their country?

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Originally Posted by A.F.F.

But still we managed to give Norway one point :down:

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I meant to watch the game and go to bed as soon as the outcome was clear, but no, they managed to draw it to overtime and I got to bed after 1 am. :(
At least they made the third goal quite quickly.

The worst part by far is Tamminen, again, his method of learning a new word every year and repeating it endlessly is rather tiresome. You could even say there isn't enough variation in his analysis. :)

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Originally Posted by janneppi

The worst part by far is Tamminen, again, his method of learning a new word every year and repeating it endlessly is rather tiresome. You could even say there isn't enough variation in his analysis. :)

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Agree, the guy sounds like somekind consult.

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Originally Posted by Tomi

Agree, the guy sounds like somekind consult.

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He is a consult :)

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Originally Posted by Garry Walker

Why do you not like penguins? After all, all those teams have finnish players playing for them, although one has to admit that Ruutu is a dick.

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Ruutu being a dick is the only positivie thing in the team ;) :p :

I said it earlier, the junior pair Crosby/Malkin, them being so good at so early on their career... It's just my bitter envy. Should they win it's too much too soon.