National Hockey League Thread

[Hurricane]

Originally Posted by benchmark00

I'm not sure if you start Luongo in the next.

There, I said it.

Vignault is a terrific coach

[benchmark00]

Yeah Lu was fantastic. Must've been very tempting to start Schneider.

[Hurricane]

Won them the game basically = tim thomas looked awkward on the goal against him.

Burrows had a bad game - his puck handling was poor. But he is allowed an off night.

[Spikey]

will get the winner in over-time in game 7 anyway

[Quaggas]

Only saw the third stanza. Vancouver looked decent, especially at the beginning.

What's with these lapses in concentration, though?

[Spikey]

Originally Posted by Spikey

will get the winner in over-time in game 7 anyway

..

[benchmark00]

Originally Posted by benchmark00

Yeah Lu was fantastic. Must've been very tempting to start Schneider.

Well then.

[Hurricane]

He has come out already and said it will be Lu in the final.

The final will be on during my working day = but I am thinking I might slip away to the bar to watch the third period. It is on 5pm Vancouver time on Wednesday -

So that is 2pm Thursday NZ time - perhaps I can even get the afternoon off - if I work it right.

Exciting - Anyone remember Linden facing off down 2-1 with 2 seconds left in game 7 vs New York

[benchmark00]

Originally Posted by Hurricane

He has come out already and said it will be Lu in the final.

The final will be on during my working day = but I am thinking I might slip away to the bar to watch the third period. It is on 5pm Vancouver time on Wednesday -

So that is 2pm Thursday NZ time - perhaps I can even get the afternoon off - if I work it right.

Exciting - Anyone remember Linden facing off down 2-1 with 2 seconds left in game 7 vs New York

Yep. Was only watching some videos on TL the other day and that came up again. Such amazing memories. He's pretty much the reason I got in to hockey so long ago.

[Hurricane]

Game day Woot

[Spikey]

nah ****

[Turbinator]

Originally Posted by Quaggas

Yeah - quite the thrashing. Don;t think any of the other three teams stands much of a chance.

Originally Posted by Turbinator

DWTA

Tbh, as much as I love the Canucks and want them to win, as they are my 2nd team after Toronto Maple Leafs (who haven't exactly lived up to the hype since the lockout), they could very well lose this or in the finals.

The number one reason for that is simple, way too many European players in the team. They lack the toughness that is needed for NHL playoff hockey to go all the way in winning the Cup. It's quite simple really, you need the tough style of play in the playoffs that only Canadian and American players can provide. The fancy, artistic play that Europeans are so skilled at is all good in the regular season, but won't cut it past that.

So don't be surprised if they don't win the cup. But if they do win, I'll be throwing a party and you're invited

Originally Posted by benchmark00

A whole two more European players on the roster than the Bruins (who are the decond best team for my money) sure will hurt the Canucks...

Originally Posted by Turbinator

I'm guessing you were being sarcastic here. If so...

Bruins are a bigger and more physical team than Tampa Bay, with guys like Milan Lucic (Canadian) who deliver hard. Bruins are an exception. On the other hand, not many, if any at all, in the Canucks lineup really stand out for their physicality.

Originally Posted by Turbinator

But the Wings also had guys like Shanahan and Yzerman (once again, Canadians) leading the pack. I'm not saying Europeans such as Lidstrom or Federov aren't valuable, all I'm saying is more often than not you need the hard hitting presence of North American players in the lineup if you want to be successful past the regular season.

Just take a look at the last two seasons, for example. Chicago won with a majority of Canadians in the lineup beating the Canucks in the conference final, under Toews' leadership. Year before that, Penguins won with a majority of North American players beating the European heavy Wings' lineup, and once again under the leadership of none other than Crosby.

Once again, I am not saying the European players aren't important to the team, guys like Lidstrom and Forsberg are legends. All I'm saying is that, in general, in the playoffs you need the strong physical presence and to exploit the soft style of play Europeans are accustomed to if you want to go all the way, more often than not.

EDIT: Oh and of course you don't mean to say North American players aren't skilled enough. There's a reason why Canada (and US to some extent) pretty much destroys other teams on the world stage, when our guys aren't playing in the NHL that is. And one important element to that is our physical prowess over the other teams. Especially at the World Juniors level, some of the hits the Canadian guys deliver on the others are just downright brutal, we literally toy with them most of the time. Except when we become complacent, like last year at the World Juniors against the Russians.

Hate to say this, but I clearly saw this coming. Just what I feared has come true, I was spot on. It hurts seeing Vancouver lose, all of Canada (including Toronto) was behind them from game 1. But I knew they'd crack sooner or later.

Yeah they only have two more Europeans in the lineup than the Bruins, but the Bruins have way more Canadian players than the Canucks. Not to mention one of the Europeans is Chara, who is pretty much a beast.

But as I said, as we've seen in the recent past time and again, the team with more Canadian players finds its way to the top. They may not have a better record in the regular season, but they have the ability and physicality to succeed in playoff hockey and win the Cup. And not just physical presence, but also mental toughness is crucial in these situations. Canucks look dead out there, too many inactive sticks. On the other hand, Bruins are actively defending each opportunity Vancouver gets. Once again, Canadian players (Bergeron, Marchand, Lucic, etc.) are the key here, this is playoff hockey.

[Quaggas]

Yeah, yeah. Can't draw inferences here. Vancouver is a quality team, and if management doesn't do anything stupid, they'll be around this next year this time. Seen it with the Wings time and time again.

How many experiments [edit: does} it take to tell that the mean of one distribution is better than another?

[benchmark00]

Originally Posted by Turbinator

Hate to say this, but I clearly saw this coming. Just what I feared has come true, I was spot on. It hurts seeing Vancouver lose, all of Canada (including Toronto) was behind them from game 1. But I knew they'd crack sooner or later.

Yeah they only have two more Europeans in the lineup than the Bruins, but the Bruins have way more Canadian players than the Canucks. Not to mention one of the Europeans is Chara, who is pretty much a beast.

But as I said, as we've seen in the recent past time and again, the team with more Canadian players finds its way to the top. They may not have a better record in the regular season, but they have the ability and physicality to succeed in playoff hockey and win the Cup. And not just physical presence, but also mental toughness is crucial in these situations. Canucks look dead out there, too many inactive sticks. On the other hand, Bruins are actively defending each opportunity Vancouver gets. Once again, Canadian players (Bergeron, Marchand, Lucic, etc.) are the key here, this is playoff hockey.

That is the single biggest load of horse **** post I have ever seen on this forum. Honestly, what a load of rubbish. Bruins won it in game 7. Your little Canadian hockey theory is absolutely nothing, physicality is not what won it for the B's, what won it for them was their tending and defence in general.

Can't believe you've come here straight after the game to post that sort of ****.

Too angry to post properly now. Will do later.

[Quaggas]

Well, congrats Boston, anyway.