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Monday, April 21, 2008

First ever Game 7 at the Bell Centre, Caps try to force game 7, Ducks Roasted, Flames sizzle, Wings hot.



Canadiens VS Hurricanes
Originally uploaded by caribooo


















How that for a post title? hahaha.

It's probably a nervous day for Habs fans and Bruins fans. Probably more so for the Canadiens fans as they were the team up 3-1 and they were the #1 seed. All the pressure is on the Habs, the Bruins can just play. What a beauty Lucic continues to be. How Carey Price and Tim Thomas react to the pressure will be huge. Should be fun to watch for sure. I can't wait to see the atmosphere in the Bell Centre, the first ever game 7 in the building. This is the first game 7 in Montreal in SIXTEEN years, if you can believe it. Here's the last game 7. Bob Cole at his best. Wouldn't DOUBLE OT be something tonight?


I'm cheering tonight for the Washington Capitals to force another Game 7- In their rocking Verizon Center- but to do it they need to beat the Flyers in Philly tonight. No easy task.......GO CAPS GO. I want these guys to stay around for the energy in their building, and for the joy of watching Alexander Ovechkin play.

A little tidbit on the Capitals- I was surprised to find out recently that their owner, Ted Leonsis has his own team blog. I find it darn cool that a team owner would have a blog to address and connect to the fans. Besides Mark Cuban, Leonsis is the only other guy I know of that has one. It is a fun read, with some good-natured ribs at the opposition and stuff to get the Caps fans pumped up.

Go to the CAPS WEBSITE and look down the right hand side for the cartoon guy with the sharp goatee (we must go to the same barber) and click on "Ted's Take"

I think Francesco Aquilini should start one, the Nuck fans would love that in light of recent events!

There will be a new Stanley Cup Champion after the Anaheim Ducks were finished off by the Dallas Stars last night in 6 games. This will make many hockey fans happy. No one likes a winner, unless it's your team. People may wonder "what happened to the Ducks" My belief is that this is just another indicator of just how tough the NHL is this day and age. 1001 things happened to the Ducks. I don't think it's possible to pinpoint one thing to be the difference as to why they didn't repeat. It is just that tough to do. The 97-98 Detroit Red Wings were the last team to REPEAT as Champs.

The Ducks are actually the first team since....I'm not sure when....to win the Cup and make the playoffs the next season. Carolina? Nope. Tampa Bay? Nope- but thank the lockout for that I guess.

After doing some research- The Ducks are the FIFTH straight defending Stanley Cup Champion to fail to make the second round.
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Nice to see the Flames pull one out last night and force Game 7 at the Shark Tank. Was anyone else surprised/let down with the atmosphere (or lack thereof) at the Saddledome? I expected more than I thought was there. Maybe it was the broadcast that made it seem that way. I also haven't been really impressed by the Flames overall pre-game presentation compared to others, but again that's maybe just how it appears to me. Vancouver Island is a far way away from Calgary I guess. At any length- GO FLAMES in Game 7.

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Too bad for the Nashville Predators and their fans yesterday, as they just couldn't get anything going against the Wings as they lost 3-0 in game 6. So much for my "upset of the playoffs" and "Preds in 7". Maybe if Nashville's biggest highlight also wasn't their biggest lowlight!! What am I talking about? Jason Arnott scoring the second Pred's goal in 9 seconds to win game 3, only to be injured by Alexander Radulov in the ensuing celebration. Or so the speculation goes.

The goalie in me said OUCH on that long-bomb game winner by Lidstrom from near his own blueline.
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BCHL stuff. The Penticton Vees dropped the first two games of the Doyle Cup in Camrose, to they now return home to the "museum" that is the Memorial Arena to hopefully change their fortunes. Good luck to the Vees on bringing it back for BC.

The BCHL executives were rewarded for their efforts with new deals on Friday. Congrats to them both.

BURNABY, BC -- April 18, 2008 -- The British Columbia Hockey League has
extended the contracts of its two principal executives, the league’s Board of
Governors announced Friday. BCHL Commissioner John Grisdale and Executive
Director Dave Sales have each signed three-year contract extensions that will keep them with the league through the 2010/11 season.

“On behalf of the Board of Governors, I’m happy to announce that both John and Dave will be guiding the BCHL’s league office for at least three more seasons,” BCHL Chairman Darcy Rota said. “We’re all very happy with the tremendous growth our league has experienced in recent years.”

Under the leadership of Grisdale and Sales, who joined the league office in 2003, the BCHL has become widely regarded as the top Junior A hockey league in North America and boasts hundreds of graduates playing professional and college hockey.

“Dave and I are excited and we’ll continue to work diligently to meet the business objectives of the BC Hockey League,” Grisdale said. “We’re very pleased with the progress of the league in terms of player development, the impressive achievements of our graduates and the increasing values of our franchises.”

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That's it for today- back tomorrow with some Bulldogs stuff with things on the schedule this weekend with the Spring Camp coming up and the season ticket renewal deadline also on the horizon.

GO HABS
CO CAPS

Hammer

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Go Habs go tonight!!
It's too bad that Hartford moved to Carolina, I liked those Whalers jerseys. Love Bob Cole!!!
OH BABY!!!!

Anonymous said...

What's with the booing for the American national anthem in Montreal. Very very disrespectful

Hammer said...

I agree anonymous #2, the booing/general disrespect shown during the US anthem is totally disrespectful, poor form, etc etc.

I will say this first and foremost- there is no acceptable excuse in my eyes for booing an anthem at a sporting event-or anywhere really.

I cannot tell you what is "with" them booing the anthem, but I have a couple of possible reasons why they do it-

#1- It is the anthem of the country of origin of their opposition.

#2- THIS Story. Again- No excuse is acceptable (if I didn't make that opinion clear already) but a story like this no doubt had considerable air time in Montreal.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1087970

#3- The "USA USA USA" chant in Boston. Possibly the Habs fans heard that and thought that the Bruins fans were making it more about country, and less about team?

When it's all said and done, the Habs fans should take a page out of the Bruin's fans books- If you don't remember, I posted a video a couple of weeks back about the Boston fans response to the Montreal fans booing the Star Spangled Banner....Might have been from 2004 or 2006. What I do remember, is that if you thought tonight was booing, you certainly didn't want to hear it the last time it was a big issue.

Again- they could learn from the fans in Boston, click the below link.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7TxpxFqAV4I

And THANKS for the comments!!

Anonymous said...

Have you ever heard fans counting down the penatly time 5,4,3,2,1... before? I wonder if the players hear them or not. Also any idea why they are booing Chara? Did he say or do something?

Hammer said...

I don't think I've ever actually heard fans count down anything like that except the end of a game. Certainly need. The players have to hear that, but I doubt they focus on it.

I am not sure why they boo Chara. I do not believe he said anything or did anything, but I do remember in the past I think he hit a Canadiens player who was already down. They might also just boo him because he's wearing the "C" and he's a big key to the Bruins success...trying to get him off his game.

Hammer said...

Certainly "neet" or neat, not need, haha!