11/23/24
June 09, 2003
Giguere wins Conn Smythe playoff MVP trophy:: And the New Jersey fans show about as much class as Celtics' fans when they booed him during the announcement. For that little display I hope the Devils never win another Stanley Cup. Incidentally he's the first losing player to win the award since Ron Hextall in 1987.
posted by Space Coyote to hockey at 10:22 PM - 17 comments
The devils players applauded and I was shocked to hear the fans boo. That sucked. Boo Devils fans. Great game and series though. I get all emotional whenever I see the cup, no matter how little I care about the teams involved... that trophy rules.
posted by Bernreuther at 10:45 PM on June 09, 2003
I hope the Devils never win another Stanley Cup I've been saying that since 1995! Bleah.
posted by Succa at 10:51 PM on June 09, 2003
Hey, the home team expected one of their players to win, hard to get on their case when it was such a surprise. I wonder how the crowd reacted the previous five times this happened.
posted by billsaysthis at 11:17 PM on June 09, 2003
They reacted like dicks this time, and that's what counts. And people wonder why New Jersey has an image problem.
posted by wfrazerjr at 11:47 PM on June 09, 2003
Bill my man, I hate to say this, but I think Brodeur almost deserved the award just as much as Giggy did after posting the shutout in game 7. I'm too tipsy to bother looking the stats up, but I believe Marty set a couple of records on the way to the cup this year. Having said that, JSG carried Anaheim on his back all the way to the finals. The Conn Smythe is all about the most valuable player in the playoffs. The Devils earned the cup as a team. You can't pick a single guy who made it happen for them. Giguere was a standout, and he deserves recognition for keeping the Ducks in a race for the cup that they had no business being in. Anyway, I think the only people who were really surprised about the Conn Smythe winner were the Devils fans. At least I hope that's why they booed. Otherwise the most vocal of them are just a bunch of asswipes who can't be bothered to recognize a great individual effort on the part of a rival, when New Jersey already has so much to celebrate.
posted by Samsonov14 at 11:56 PM on June 09, 2003
And we all knew going into this that the best possible result of the series would be something like this (click watch this movie).
posted by Samsonov14 at 03:18 AM on June 10, 2003
New Jersey fans show about as much class as Celtics' fans Reference, please?
posted by yerfatma at 06:15 AM on June 10, 2003
lousy move on the part of the fans. Your guy didn't win the Conn Smythe? So what, you have the Cup. A little pespective, please. Brodeur made a good case for himself to win the MVP. His playoff run was about as good as they come (well, except for getting pulled a couple of times). 16 wins, 7 shutouts, new record. But the story of the playoffs was the Ducks and Giguere was their guy. re: the Celtics' fans - weren't they razzing JKidd about his domestic abuse problem? That doesn't seem classy. Maybe a 'Philadelphia fans boo Santa Claus' comparison is also apt.
posted by gspm at 06:47 AM on June 10, 2003
I didn't get a chance to watch the game last night, but I was able to pick up most of it by jumping around AM stations on my drive home. When Bettman used the phrase "...for all four rounds of the playoffs..." I knew exactly what the result was. I would have been fine if they gave it to Brodeur and he would have probably won it if they swept the Ducks, but I'm just going to say "I told you!" instead (see last paragraph in my comment). And the radio station was fading when they were interviewing Brodeur after the Cup presentation, but I could have sworn his response to "Do you think you deserved to win the MVP?" was "He can have that trophy, I'll take this one instead."
posted by grum@work at 06:48 AM on June 10, 2003
As I recall, when the Devils won the Cup in Dallas, the Stars fans who stuck around were respectful enough of the accomplishment to politely cheer the announcement of the Conn Smythe and the presentation of the Cup. If there's any justice, the hockey gods will have heard the raucous boos that greeted Giguere in New Jersey and curse the franchise for as long as the Red Wings faced the curse of Barilko.
posted by rcade at 08:14 AM on June 10, 2003
The guys on ESPNRadio this morning were talking about this and their point was basically "If the fans were booing the decision if they were booing b/c they thought that one of their guys was going to get it, then that makes sense" which is horseshit IMO. JSGs tears at the end of the game were heartbreaking (and I was rooting for NJ) and I was glad to see him win. There's room for debate, but save that for the morning after. That night, applaud someone that had a great fucking run and then go celebrate your team's victory. Since it's been brought up, one of Marty's most notable achievements was having three shutouts in the finals. Amazing. Also, Scott Stevens and the rest of the Devils held Paul Kariya to only two shots in the four games in New Jersey. Also amazing. I've never seen a team in any sport play as well with the lead as the Devils did last night. They earned that game.
posted by Ufez Jones at 09:35 AM on June 10, 2003
I kinda wish they had to keep playing until one of them won a road game. (As long as I didn't have to see Sam Ryan keep interviewing that ridiculous Ducks marriage proposal couple, that is.)
posted by Mookieproof at 09:43 AM on June 10, 2003
"re: the Celtics' fans - weren't they razzing JKidd about his domestic abuse problem? That doesn't seem classy." DEVIL's ADVOCATE: Should we cheer Mr. Kidd for his domestic abuse problem? Methinks that anyone who abuses his wife deserves ridicule. Considering that this type of behavior almost always goes unchecked among professional athletes, the fact that Celtics fans still remind Kidd of his transgressions is actually quite refreshing to me.
posted by Conquistador at 12:56 AM on June 11, 2003
i didn't mean to editorialize on celtics fans, just to answer yerfatma's question by guessing what space coyote was refering to. my mention was a theory and it had to be put in a class/no-class context to make sense. if that was what he's refering to then he'd be the one to have a go at the celtic fans. -- just pointing out that i won't be giving an un-devil's advocating comment to your comment. i said "doesn't seem classy" as a way of guessing what space coyote may have been refering to. no bother, just seeing that something i mentioned was the basis of your comment when i think you should be taking it up with space coyote.
posted by gspm at 01:14 AM on June 11, 2003
Conquistador: The minute Jason Kidd donned Celtic green the razzing would stop, so it's hardly a principled stand against domestic abuse.
posted by rcade at 06:49 AM on June 11, 2003
rcade, you're right, but you're missing the point. There's a big difference between booing someone (ostensibly) for breaking the law and booing someone for putting together an outstanding performance. I've got no problem with booing wifebeaters on other teams. They deserve it. Giguere didn't.
posted by Samsonov14 at 07:42 AM on June 11, 2003
I couldn't believe it when I heard that. What a bunch of punks. J.S. Giguere more than deserved to win the Conn Smythe. He was brilliant against Detroit, Dallas, and Minnesota. That series was definitely more exciting than I thought it would be. When does the season start again?