Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals is just over an hour away. Can't wait for the puck drop inside Rogers Arena (it will be deafening inside the building). Go Canucks Go!
Canucks WIN! Absolutely clutch in the third period. If it wasn't for Tim Thomas and has brilliant play, it would have been a blowout tonight. We don't see much of the Bruins, but Tim Thomas has my vote for the Vezina trophy and my respect as a hockey fan. Onto game 2 Saturday @ Rogers Arena. I thought I comment a little on ticket prices. Lower bowl seats had a face value of between $550 - $930. Upper bowl tickets were between $280 - $460. Crazy....really wish I could go to a game in the Stanley Cup Finals, but I'll save some money and watch it with friends and family at home. There are some deals if you wait outside Rogers Arena but still an arm and a leg in the end. Go Canucks Go.
Good game last night...I agree that Tim Thomas is an all-star, he's allowed one goal in his last two games
Thomas did play great, as did Luongo. That was a tough one to lose, but that game could have gone either way. The Canucks came out strong and did keep a lot of pressure on the Bruins in the third, but the B's controlled the play for large parts of the game as well. As a Bruins fan I would have loved to win the first game, but I didn't come away from this one feeling nervous or depressed. I think this series is going to be a lot closer than most people are expecting and, from what I saw, the Bruins have a great chance of winning.
Very exciting for a game that didn't have a goal until the last 20 seconds. Felt bad for Tim Thomas. He did a great job all game and probaby deserved to at least lose in OT. Think this will be a great series.
+1 and the "great unwashed" complain about soccer scoring! A good (nee, *great*) game doesn't need a bunch of points to be great! [IMNSHO] +1 Was fully expecting OT, and then who knows? Kudos to Luongo also - He also kept his team in it. I generally loose interest once my Sharks are done, but am glued to this series - May it go to seven! Cheers, Ian
WILL be watching as they drop the biscuit for bout number two tonight 8 p EST. I'm liking the Canucks tonight..... Cross-country flight then for Monday's game.
Buckle in for an intense game. I think Bruins will come out hard and strong with a first game loss. I expect lots of hits, and a tight battle.
What a game...and what a finish....only 11 seconds in to OT. 2-0 is going to be very difficult to come back from, the Canucks look poised, focused, and hungry.
Couldn't have said it any better. Clutch would be another adjective I'd like to throw in there. Once again, hats off to Tim Thomas for keeping the game close with some amazing saves. Go Canucks Go!
Game 3 had something for everyone, except Canuck fans. "Old time hockey is back! Where else but Boston?" I loved how short the benches were late in the third period. Three goals in 90-odd seconds for Bruins at end! P S Don Cherry's sport coat was a treasure tonight.
No excuses tonight, we got a good old beat down in Boston. I expected them to come out hard and nothing less. Canucks played poorly in all aspects of their game. From their once potent PP, to their decent PK, everything was in a funk tonight. Congrats to Boston and a truly well deserved win. The Hit: I thought it looked bad because the player was lying on the ice, but I didn't think it was dirty. How is this hit any different to the hit Stevens had on Lindros? Whatever happens here on out, I'm glad that AV will have no choice but to play Ballard (hip check galore, here we come!). Rome has done nothing for us in the SCF except take a few terrible penalties and force the Canucks to play with only 5 D-men early in the first! Him out of the lineup will only be an advantage to us. Game 3 is history, onto game 4. The Canucks will be better and the Bruins will need to elevate their game if they don't want to be the ones being blown out. Go Canucks Go!
That was a beat-down alright...the Nucks better take game 4, that would all but end it...2-2 and then it's anybody's in a best of 3
Will need to elevate their game?!?!? Seriously? What do you want them to do, score 3 shorthanded goals and win 10-1??? While the Canucks are still leading the series, I think the pressure is squarely on their shoulders now. THEY are the ones that need to elevate their game and come out and prove that game 3 was an anomaly. But, I just don't see it happening tonight. Bruins win 4-2. After that, anything can still happen in the series, but there is no way the Finals end on Friday.
+1 Despite the absence of my Sharks () this is shaping up to be a great series - I'd love to see it go to 7. "May the best team win!". Cheers, Ian
The hit on Horton in no way compares to the one Stevens' leveled on Lindros. The hit on Horton was late, by about 1 second the NHL is claiming...it wasn't a dirty hit to the head, he got him clean in the chest but it was too late and Horton subsequently hit his head on the ice which caused the concussion....so the suspension is for a late hit, not a hit to the head. The Scott Stevens' hit on Lindros was to the head, but that was legal in 2000 (or whatever year that happened in). Back then there was no "check to the head" rule, so Scott Stevens' hit on Lindros was in fact legal (at that time of course). If that hit had of occurred today, Stevens' would have gotten more than 4 games since they issued a 4-gamer to Rome for a late hit. With that said, I think the NHL has its head up its azz again...I am all for player-safety, but a 4-game suspension for a "late" hit is ridiculous COMPARED to how the NHL typically handles suspensions....they are either at one end of the scale or the other, no consistency, all over the map....and to say that their suspension decision making is an inexact science would be a gross understatement. By the way, Rome has a clean history, is not a dirty player, and remember how fast the game is and 1 second on the ice is about a fraction of that in real-time regular activity. I don't believe his intent was to injure Horton.
*ahem* I just got into the game again during the playoffs.... It's a good series for the cup. Obviously we are both biased towards our home teams, but I think if you look at it from the outside, Boston is looking stronger. The first two games really could have gone either way - I think the # of shots on goal were pretty evenly matched for both teams. It was just about which one of the goalkeepers let one in first - turned out to be Thomas both times. Game 3 the Bruins just had their way with Vancouver... I think towards the end, Vancouver just lost their mojo. The game tonight wasn't *as* bad for the Canucks, but it wasn't that much better. Boston definitely dominated the game, but Thomas played a big part of that. Obviously it's even now - all that matters is who can win the next two. Boston needs to keep the steamroller going into Vancouver's home turf, and Vancouver seriously needs to stop the train before it gets worse. I expect the next two games to be very much like the first two - very solid playing on both sides and it really could go either way. Good to see Boston in the finals, though
