11/05/24
June 09, 2011
Choking Again??: The unbeatable team finally due to win their cup after years of playoff collapse are at it again. The team with more skill has been badly out player by the team with more heart. With Luongo playing poorly and Hamhuis out, do they have what it takes to bounce back as the series heads back to Canada.
do they have what it takes to bounce back
They do ... Cory Schneider.
Credit to the Bruins for their well deserved victories, but expect the officiating to be skewed in the Canucks favor in game 5 (NHL officiating pattern is starting to remind me of NBA officiating).
Canucks played the last 2 games as if they had no confidence in their goaltending. Although they had a lot of shots, they often peeled back rather than pressuring loose pucks ... guess I might do the same if I knew my goaltender could only stop 7 shots out of 10.
posted by cixelsyd at 11:10 AM on June 09, 2011
Credit to the Bruins for their well deserved victories, but expect the officiating to be skewed in the Canucks favor in game 5 (NHL officiating pattern is starting to remind me of NBA officiating).
I'm confused.
I thought the conspiracy theory was that the NHL wanted Boston to win the Stanley Cup, given the history of the franchise and the fact that they are American.
Someone should really put out a "fixed sports conspiracy guide" so I can keep up.
posted by grum@work at 11:21 AM on June 09, 2011
"fixed sports conspiracy guide"
Money rules.
Everything else is just conjecture.
posted by graymatters at 11:54 AM on June 09, 2011
Which team has more Freemasons?
posted by yerfatma at 11:56 AM on June 09, 2011
No no no!! The NHLbergs need a Canadian winner to further their socialist one world government banking schemes.
posted by NoMich at 12:09 PM on June 09, 2011
Which team has more Freemasons?
Dunno .. Canucks do have a Mason
I thought the conspiracy theory was that the NHL wanted Boston to win the Stanley Cup
Where's athiest lurking? He had an interesting perspective on the NBA Finals, perhaps he can enlighten us on the NHL.
posted by cixelsyd at 12:11 PM on June 09, 2011
Someone please just tell me where Opus Dei fits in.
Best bit of dialogue from last night.
"They aren't out there because of their stick handling."
"Why ARE they out there, Pierre?"
posted by lil_brown_bat at 12:13 PM on June 09, 2011
Which team has more Freemasons?
I'm a Freemason, and they have told us all who will win this series. I might be killed if I tell this to those who are not members of the Craft, but I do know that the Stanley Cup will be skated around the ice at TD Garden in Boston.
posted by Howard_T at 12:50 PM on June 09, 2011
So as soon as we see who wins game 5, Howard has to enter the Federal Witness Protection program.
posted by beaverboard at 01:10 PM on June 09, 2011
Which team is unbeatable here? Vancouver certainly looked very beatable when they needed seven games to finish off Chicago. They haven't looked unbeatable this series. And who determined Boston has more heart than Vancouver?
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 02:34 PM on June 09, 2011
And who determined Boston has more heart than Vancouver?
I did. On paper, Boston should not be on the ice with them but since the shot on Horton, Boston is just playing with more fire. They are winning battles in the corner, they are winning loose pucks, they are getting turnovers all over the place. Maybe Vancouver is running out of gas, but Boston is flying around. The Horton knockout just flipped a switch.
posted by Debo270 at 02:53 PM on June 09, 2011
When Boston's forecheck gets going it seems almost impossible for Vancouver to get the puck out of their end. I don't know how the Canucks managed 38 shots when it seemed like most of the game was played in their end, on defense. Boston has done this in every series. They keep it in the offensive end for extended periods of time with their nonstop forechecking. Unless you're a Boston fan it gets kind of annoying to watch since there is hardly any back and forth.
posted by insomnyuk at 03:01 PM on June 09, 2011
The forecheck has been amazing.
posted by Debo270 at 03:18 PM on June 09, 2011
Boston has been full value for their victories, especially in terms of effort. But if the Canucks PP reverts to their high standard then they will win this series handily.
There is a fine line between "grit" and "dirty" though and the Bruins are by far the chippiest team I have seen in years. The constant hacking at Henrik's bum leg is just about the nastiest thing I've seen in the game. I really really wish the officials would clamp down on the off-the-puck stick-work on both sides. It has zero place in the game and can't really be defended or nuanced the way actual hockey plays can be.
Luongo has mental lapses that infect the whole team - see the last few playoff seasons. While it seems like Thomas also an have bad games, he hasn't had one yet in the finals and that's all that counts.
posted by rumple at 03:19 PM on June 09, 2011
Yeah, Brad Marchand cheap shotted Henrik Sedin about half a dozen times that last game, and didn't get called for it once.
posted by insomnyuk at 03:33 PM on June 09, 2011
There is a fine line between "grit" and "dirty" though
And each team seems to be straddling it quite well. You're not suggesting Vancouver has been playing by Marquis of Queensbury rules, are you?
posted by yerfatma at 04:10 PM on June 09, 2011
I'm saying they would prefer to and it would be to their huge advantage if it was clean hockey settled by skill and speed, and the Bruins know that. Hence, what we see, which is pretty much gutter hockey of a kind I thought the league had left behind.
Obviously the Bruins would be crazy not to do what they are doing (crazy, or have integrity, I guess), and scrums or roughing or whatever is fine, but the cheap hacking, yeah, that's pretty much all Bruins, with situational retaliation.
posted by rumple at 04:33 PM on June 09, 2011
I'm not happy with the Bruins' dirty pokes - let Vancouver play dive and take their cheap shots - but the Thomas/Burrows mixup was still funny. At first I thought it was just Thomas throwing a cheap shot, but then they showed Burrows whacking his stick to start the whole thing off.
posted by kokaku at 04:38 PM on June 09, 2011
but the cheap hacking, yeah, that's pretty much all Bruins, with situational retaliation
I don't know what to say to that. Vancouver's hacking is classy? You can't honestly feel every questionable Vancouver act is in response to something.
posted by yerfatma at 05:40 PM on June 09, 2011
What would a dive be in response to? Especially when it seems to be part of a pattern?
posted by lil_brown_bat at 05:56 PM on June 09, 2011
Who does the Bilderberg Club favour? SEEK THE TRUTH.
I don't know what this guy was watching, but I saw Vancouver pretty much get most of the play for three of the four games (but, what a game that was) and Tim Thomas doing his impression of Dominic Hasek. Only he's 40. And just as amazing.
Luongo played awful in game three - as did the entire team who maddeningly can't maintain intensity - but he was okay yesterday. They couldn't beat Thomas to save their lives. If he keeps it up - Boston wins. If he slips - It's Vancouver. And it's absolutely going seven. I still think Vancouver is the better team, but their assholes are puckered so much to the point that I have to imagine if they fart, they explode.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 06:01 PM on June 09, 2011
I did. On paper, Boston should not be on the ice with them but since the shot on Horton, Boston is just playing with more fire.
What paper are you looking at? I see a team that was the third seed in the east, with a Vezina finalist between the pipes and a Norris finalist on defense. I'd be very surprised if there were many people who thought Vancouver would walk all over Boston this series.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 06:02 PM on June 09, 2011
I'd be very surprised if there were many people who thought Vancouver would walk all over Boston this series.
I'll confess to being one of them, but that's just because I watched Boston's defensive zone coverage against Tampa. Holy shit, was it inconsistent. I thought the brothers Sedin would have a field day, Chara be damned. I honestly thought that the games would be high scoring affairs, with Vancouver's superior defense making the difference. Maybe Hamhuis is that good, or maybe I just can't pick winners worth a shit (as my history in SpoFi pools and such will attest to).
posted by tahoemoj at 07:49 PM on June 09, 2011
I'd be very surprised if there were many people who thought Vancouver would walk all over Boston this series.
I picked Vancouver to sweep the series. I thought that they were peaking at just the right time, and for the first two games it looked pretty good.
posted by grum@work at 09:16 PM on June 09, 2011
The Bruins on paper are not as good as Vancouver. But they do have more heart. Vancouver kinda thought they had this thing in the bag and were a little bit surprised when they got to Boston. And to whoever says Boston is the dirty team--what series are you watching??? Burrows bites and Horton gets knocked out from a blindside. Hockey is a tough sport and the Bruins are playing that way.
posted by kandylynn at 10:57 PM on June 09, 2011
And to whoever says Boston is the dirty team--what series are you watching???
The one where the Bruins slash Bieksa in the back of the leg, and they shove their fingers into the face of Canuck players. The only way you can suggest that the Bruins are saints this series is to do so while wearing the bear costume for the commercials.
Both teams are "playing tough".
posted by grum@work at 08:14 AM on June 10, 2011
This series seems to be a revival of "old-time hockey" with alll of its good and bad points. I for one would rather see the slashes and cheap hits, as long as they are down low, than I would the head hunting. With a few exceptions, the shots to the legs don't result in potential career enders, but the head shots not only might end a career, they just might end a life.
posted by Howard_T at 11:09 AM on June 10, 2011
All I know is Burrrows has a "reputation" in the league. Other members of other NHL teams reportedly were ashamed for him when he did his biting. He must know Mike Tyson.
posted by kandylynn at 10:15 PM on June 10, 2011
Boston is playing tougher hockey right now and the Injury to Hamhuis and the suspension of rome leaves them down 2 of their first 6 on defense. Last night while watching the game, one of the announcers said it was H. Sedins first shot of the series. I honestly think Boston could wrap this up in 6