Stanley Cup Finals

[XU05and07]

Is anyone watching these? I, for one, can't get enough. My Red Wings have Lord Stanley's Cup all wrapped up and they give up a goal with 34 seconds left. And then they lose in 3OTs. The ratings for the Stanley Cup finals is up. But anyone on here watching along side of me?

[The Artist]

Is anyone watching these? I, for one, can't get enough. My Red Wings have Lord Stanley's Cup all wrapped up and they give up a goal with 34 seconds left. And then they lose in 3OTs. The ratings for the Stanley Cup finals is up. But anyone on here watching along side of me?

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are really the only playoffs I look forward to if my team is out.

[Kahns Krazy]

For whatever reason, I was watching some of the earlier playoff series, but haven't been watching the finals. With the weather getting nice, I'm in the house as little as possible watching TV. I did notice that it's game 6 tonight. I'll probably watch assuming the cable is back on.

I'm also thinking about going to the cyclones game tomorrow. I'm all about the bandwagon.

[XU05and07]

Game 6 tonight...8pm on NBC from "The Igloo"

Go Wings!

[Tardy Turtle]

Overtime in playoff hockey is the single best part about any playoffs in any sport. No TV commercial breaks (excluding intermissions) and next goal wins no matter how long it takes. I was up until 2:30 for the SJ-DAL game that went 4OT a few weeks ago.

M.A. Fleury gave the best goaltending performance I have ever seen in a playoff game. He was repeatedly hung out to dry in the third period and first OT. Tonight's game ought to be excellent.

[wkrq59]

Flightless Birds live to fight another day. But has anybody noted the unbelieveable puck-possession format of the Red Wings. Babcock was almost unknown as a coach of the Mighty Ducks. The guy is pretty darn good behind the bench.
But I don't want to see a seventh game. Too damn tense for my age.:D

[Strange Brew]

Beer currently in hand and Pens jersey on. Hell yes I'm watching!!!!! 25,66,68 forever!!

[Kahns Krazy]

yowsa. what a finish.

If Pittsburgh had played with the intensity for the third period that they played for the last 1:43, they might have won by ten. Unreal.

[XU05and07]

Lord Stanley's Cup returns to Hockeytown!

What a game...what a series

[Kahns Krazy]

the post game tradition is kind of a letdown on the road.

[The Artist]

the post game tradition is kind of a letdown on the road.

No kidding. I don't remember the last time I saw something like this.

However, for all I know it could have been last year...

[Tardy Turtle]

Ugh.

Detroit is just so much better 5-on-5.

[wkrq59]

the post game tradition is kind of a letdown on the road.
Yeah, it is Kraz, but what a class act by the Pens fans in that stinky old arena. all 18,000 of them it seemed stood and after saluting their team and being saluted stayed to watch the presentation of the Conn Smythe and the Cup.
Sadly there was no way the Pens could have performed with that much intensity in the first period, or even in the second. The third would have been worse than the other two had they blown their wad in the first and then given up the first goal.
As it was, after the first two goals Detroit had five straight good scoring chances before the Pens even got off a shot!
And after that third goal, damn, I always hate to see a great hockey game and series end on a wierd goal.
Gotta hand it to Marc Joanette and his reffing partner, That was a bang-bang play on that goal and it might not have been seen had the ref not been right where he should have been and watching the puck, which is his job. Did you notice how Fleury didn't know where it was, sat and slid it under him into the net and the ref signaled goal at the same time one of the Pens swept the puck back across the line and simultaneously the net came off?
I think the whole sequence took fewer than three seconds.
Watched the shots of Babcock during the game and his comments at the end and on ESPN News in the formal, off-ice interviews. He was as gracious toward the Pens and their coach in victory as he was courageous and gutsy in defeat when the Devils beat his Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the finals a few years ago.
Of all the sports, the final game of any Stanley Cup series, especially the finals, is always special. That handshake line, often imitated but never duplicated is truly something special. I know guys that have refused to do it, but were chased from the locker room by their own teammates and forced to come back for it, on both the winning and losing teams. There is a saying "you never want to be on the wrong end of a handshake line," and that's what makes that hockey tradition so great.
I think the biggest thing the Pens have to improve to get back to the finals and win, is their defense. They also need some bigger forwards who can skate and who aren't too old and stuck in the ways of "Old time hockey, Toe Blake, Eddie Shore..F..k Toe Blake and Eddie Shore, I've got NHL scouts out there!"
" Oh the good ole hockey game......":D

[PM Thor]

Where was the tripping call on Pittsburgh when the Detroit guy (forgot who it was) was heading up ice towards an open net? I understand there was about a minute to go, but HOW do they miss that call? Looked pretty blatant to me.

Good for Detroit. I got into hockey when I lived up in Lake Erie for years. Hockey Night in Canada....I loved it. And that last sequence to end it was great, the series looked like it was going to be a blowout, but Pitt rallied to make it a darn good series.

Side note. I think they need to cut the NHL season down some. The fact that the Finals were being played in June, on really bad ice, should be a hint to the powers that be that the season drags on for far too long. Both teams looked really slow last night, as if the ice was turning into mud.

[The Artist]

Side note. I think they need to cut the NHL season down some. The fact that the Finals were being played in June, on really bad ice, should be a hint to the powers that be that the season drags on for far too long. Both teams looked really slow last night, as if the ice was turning into mud.

I don't disagree on cutting down the season, but Pittsburgh has always had bad ice due to the age of the arena (NYR have the same problem), and I don't think that is characteristic of all venues.

[MD Muskie]

You will find that problem at every NHL Ice Rink south of Canada (save for Buffalo). the general rule of thumb is to have the ice sheet at 12 degrees, but what the hell can one do when their are over 20,000 in Detriot or 18000+ in Pittsburgh screaming their heads off. The place is going to be a sauna and the ice will melt some. It happens. I full admit that my Washington Capitals have the worse ice sheet possible almost comparable to the field at old veterans stadium, it can ruin careers, but scaling down the season isn't really going to help that.

Anyway, this Cup Finals was awesome and it shows why this sport is one of the most exciting sports out there. Look at Ryan Malone and he now deformed face, he didn't care how badly he was hurt because getting your name on the CUP is completely worth it. You just don't see this type of energy from the other major sports playoffs. I cannot wait until the next NHL season starts.

[XU05and07]

Playing into June doesn't really make sense. They are then competing with the NBA Finals and other summer distractions. Finishing the Stanley Cup Finals in early May or late April would be a much better time for the NHL to market itself. Though, I think the way they have been marketed since the lock-out season rests on the shoulders of commissioner Gary Bettman. He is to the NHL as Bruno was to the A10.

That being said...ratings were up for the Stanley Cup Finals. You now have to parlay that into some more success. Get more games on networks or basic TV for all to see. Promote the premier players. Crosby has been marketed, but others have not been marketed to the extent and quantity as back when Lemieux, Gretzky, Messier, Jagr, Roy, and Fuhr ruled the league.

The NHL needs to hope for more HDTV buyers because the technology of television does wonders for the game. For the normal hockey fan like myself, I can watch hockey on TV every day. But for the new or interested spectator, HD quality makes it easier to follow the puck, the building of a scoring opportunity, and the checks that are behind the play.

The only problem with cutting down the season is that price of tickets would have to go up and then making it harder for some fans to make it to games...and going to the games is the experience that is going to bring fans to the sport. Live NHL games are amazing.

[Kahns Krazy]

I also wanted to comment that that was the most successful "white out" I have ever seen pulled off. There weren't more than 100 non-white shirts out of 18,000.

Crosby is exciting. He created a scoring opportunity last night while being tripped up behind the net that I don't think I've ever seen. Hockey is a sport where having no fear makes for exciting play. Of course, that only lasts for a couple seasons for the youngsters, because having no fear also gets him lit up like he was behind the net in the second period that put him out until the 3rd period.

I think I've said it on this board, but no sport benefits from HDTV more than hockey. As 12 said above, if you're used to it, watching hockey on standard def tv is fine (well, it is now. When Fox made a major hockey push in the mid 90's, they tried that stupid puck tail thing and they failed to realize that being a hockey cameraman is as tricky as being a golf cameraman), but HD really makes the game easy to watch.

I hated that the 3rd goal trickled in off Fleury's ass, but the ref staring down the puck reminded me of the final shot in Caddyshack.

I still can't get over how exciting that last 2 minutes was, and even the last 4 seconds! Wow.

[PM Thor]

I think Detroit shows what you need to do to Crosby. Hit him, him him, and hit him some more. He got lit up a couple of times just in that last game.

As for the reasons why the ice is bad, I am not saying that playing this late into the year is the sole factor, but the ambient temperature certainly doesn't help things. You really don't see ice issues in February as compared to May or June. Just one reason why I think the season is too long.

[wkrq59]

I have been in rinks from Cincinnati to Los Angeles, in Phoenix, Chicago, Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Atlanta and Nashville.The worst ice in the history of the world, any part is in the Riverfront Coliseum, 1st Bank Arena now. Simply because they don't know how to make it.
EVEN IN THE NEW AIR CONDITIONED BUILDINGS which aren't all that many, once you pass April and the crowds are anywhere near capacity of the arena, be it 10,606at the Cin Gardens or 16,000 at first bank or 20,000 at the Joe or 18,000 at the Igloo, the ice will be bad, especially in the third period and certainly in the overtimes. Hell, I was in Halifax, N.S. in a rink that seated about 5,000-plus and was jammes to 6,000 in the last week of April, 1st week of May, and the place was like a freezer when we went in by the third period there was fog and VERY BAD ICE and this is in the country where hockey is the national religion.
Oddly, hockey is one season I don't think of as too long, because I love it. Want a long season, try the frigging NBA.
To a certain extent, bad or questionable ice is going to be part of the Stanley Cup finals, no matter what the month, because you have large crowds and high heat-humidity factor. You have to open the doors to let the people in. I've seen bad ice in the coliseum, because they couldn't keep the hot air out...and when X and UC played at the coliseum, iot got so damn cold the players sometimes needed blankets and there was no ice under the floor.
Thor, I too wondered about the no call at the end, which if I recall my rules should have been a penalty shot. But again, Marc Joannette, the lead ref, was the last of the teams to be used by the NHL. And sadly, officials on the ice get caught up in the game.

[waggy]

My guess is that is possible to design/build an air conditioning system to handle any circumstance - it's just cost prohibitive.

[xudash]

I think Mellon Arena was built in 1962 or '63. Part of what probaby was Ren II for Pittsburgh. It has a retractable roof, which is pretty neat, but it is about to be brought down. They're building a new arena in the 'burgh next to Duquesne.