Let's talk hockey!

Was surprised to not see a discussion for hockey going on already. Figured what better time to start one than during this Rangers/Caps game 7 during OT!

I'm a Ducks fan, so I don't have much of a horse in this race, but if things go well against the Hawks I would rather play the Caps.

You just know Washington is gonna blow it. They always do.

EDIT: What I tell ya.

Go avalanche :(

The person above me is a genius psychic! Good job on that call.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO FUCK YEAH

(rangers fan)

@aquamarin: Yep. That team can't get past the 2nd round for whatever reason.

I'm sad for Ovi. But, happy for Lundqvist. I have zero idea who will come out between the Bolts and Rangers.

Bolts will absolutely not beat the Rags. King Henrik is too good.

I haven't paid attention to hockey since the 04-05 skipped season. A bunch of millionaires quibbling over their millions. Screw hockey. I was also pissed when the Nordiques finally won a Stanley Cup after becoming the bloody "Avalanche". Pah! Disappointment after disappointment.

I'm a lifelong Canucks fan so I'd rather not talk about hockey right now. Sad to see Washington go out like that. I have never been a huge fan of the guy but Ovie deserves a cup real bad.

Seeing the Blackhawks flirt with dynasty talk has been amazing.

The world championship is going on right now. I've always had this feeling that Americans have never really cared about it, even though the US usually does really well.

Habs are out. This sport is non existent for me till october.

I'm completely done with the leafs. Thats what's happening

No quirky thread title like "Time To Kick Some Ice?" I'm disappointed, OP.

I wanted to believe this year would be different for the Caps, but something in their DNA compelled them to cause four consecutive penalties until the Rags finally found one power play they could score on and tie the game. Another 3-1 series lead pissed away.

Go Ducks, I guess.

I don't know if I'm ready to talk hockey after the elimination of my beloved Red Wings. :'( It's hard to complain though. For a time I was mostly worried about just making the playoffs.

As a rule, I root against all New York teams, but part of me wanted them to win so I could have another Original Six Stanley Cup final since the Habs were already knocked out.

Go Blackhawks!

The score doesn't show it, but the Blackhawks clearly outplayed the Ducks in the first period. The Ducks meanwhile have come out to play dirty. The refs better reign them in or this can get ugly as the game goes on.

The Flying V.

I'm pretty excited the Hawks playoffs are finally on local channels so I can watch at home. So no matter what, today's a victory!

With the exception of Rundblad and the Ducks second goal, the Blackhawks slightly outplayed them in the second period. Right now, Andersen's stick save on Kane in the first period is the difference.

Well this one's over with the empty net. The Ducks should be happy to escape with the win. With the exception of the PK and their third goal, the Blackhawks outplayed the Ducks for most of the game, but it only takes a goal by any means to ignore that. Blackhawks just needs to improve the PP and Rundblad needs to continue improving. Blackhawks goal was to win at least one of these games, and the way they've played, they could still take the second one.

@sergio: Hawks did out play them, but the Ducks succeed where it matters, goals. I get a feeling depth will be the story of this series. Getz/Toews, Kesler/Kane lines will cancel each other out. And I think the Ducks have the better depth, especially on defense.

@dracomaster01: I think the Ducks have better defensive depth with Rozsival injured, Timonen not getting many minutes, and having a rookie in Rundbland out there. You are severely underestimating the Blackhawks third line. The Ducks third line pulled it out for them yesterday, but the Blackhawks third line is no joke.

@sergio: Yeah, that third line is good. Sharp makes it better. But, I do think our 4th line is better than Chicago's 4th.

So the Bolts destroyed the Rangers tonight. Didn't really see that coming. Especially didn't see the King give up 6 goals like that. Won't be surprised to see him have a monster performance in their next game.

Tampa Bay won tonight. Ugh. The specter of an Anaheim-Tampa series looms larger and larger.

@dracomaster01: Hmm... nah, we've got good players on the 4th line too. The only advantage the Ducks have over the Blackhawks remains on defense. The Blackhawks look to be keeping Timonen in for his experience, but considering the guy hadn't played most of the season and is retiring at the end of the playoffs, I don't expect much from him. And they're switching out Rundblad for Cumiskey, who hasn't played for a while also. I'd expect any scoring the Ducks make in game 2 will probably be when one of them is out on the ice.

Ducks playing dirty early on again, but this time the Blackhawks made them pay. I think Richards' shot was going to go in, and Hossa almost knocked it out, but it bounced back in off a Duck. Stoner should have gotten an additional penalty, so the refs are already doing a bad job calling this game. A bit of luck on the Ducks' side to get back within one, and as I predicted, it was when Timonen was on the ice with that failed pinch that started it. Their 4th line is playing good, but again, because Timonen is on the ice. Cumiskey not doing too bad so far.

Second period, Blackhawks giving the puck away too often this period. They've had their chances, but nothing going in yet. Ducks are playing better. No way Crawford can stop that redirect. Ducks still playing a little dirty and getting away with it this period, which may be dictating how the Blackhawks play if refs are looking away too often. I wish they were a bit more consistent with calling cross-checks, but at least that breakaway negated it.

Third period, both teams are playing well. Kruger taking the bad penalty with the obvious hold for no reason. I thought the Ducks PP would put it away, but a great PK. On to overtime.

OT1, Ducks finally outplayed the Blackhawks. Going into OT2, this doesn't bode well for the Blackhawks since their defense must be tired. They still have the experience to pull it off, but I feel the Ducks might score one of the few times Timonen is out there.

OT2, this isn't soccer, Shaw. Nice try though. If you hadn't leaned forward, maybe it would have counted.

I'm following the game on the internet, about to go to bed with a 3-2 Hawks win.

Until... what, something about heads?

Thats some crazy shit. Shame they took the point away but I understand why.

Great game, Ducks. Chicago escaped with a win to even it up. Honestly, I thought the ducks would win it because the Blackhawks were completely dragging ass.

I'm glad the Blackhawks and Ducks decided to play a bunch of extra periods for me since I missed the first two watching the Rockets game.

To the announcer's comment, if he had simply jumped straight up without the forward head motion, and it happens to bounce in, it would have counted. Maybe? I'm not sure if it would count still since his head is above the crossbar.

Honestly, I'm not a sportsperson. You'd expect all Canadians to be hockey freaks but nope, I dislike Hockey.

@sergio: I feel like this payback for game 1. Both teams have stolen a game so far. This series will probably be the most entertaining series in the playoffs.

I'm genuinely curious enough about this to bring it up a third time. The IIHF games ended with Canada taking gold, Russia silver and USA bronze. Are the world championship games not shown in the USA? Do people know that they're even going on? I was talking to my sisters' American boyfriend a few months back who is a huge NHL fan and he didn't seem to know anything about the IIHF games.

@isomeri: The problem is it's not really promoted in America. And for me, I don't find the international games that interesting for some reason. Plus, Canada is always stacked it's not even fair.

@dracomaster01: Canada has been a major force, but Russia and the Czech Republic have actually won more gold medals in recent years. In the last six years there's been five different winners (Canada, Sweden, Czech Repubic, Finland and Russia twice).

Some people argue that international hockey is slower paced than NHL, and that may be a fair argument. Also the rules different slightly, or at least the ease of which penalties are given out, as far as I understand.

Here in Finland, pretty much the whole country watches the IIHF games each year. Even people who are not that into hockey or sports in general get riled up in the excitement. The local SM (Suomen Mestaruus/Finnish Championships) league and to a lesser extent NHL are popular as well, but nowhere near the same extent as the international games. As a sporting event it's probably only surpassed by the Olympic Games every four years.

@dudeglove: Yeah most of the Russian players, including their captain, left the ice as soon as they got their medals, but some stayed behind to hear the Canadian national anthem. It was a dick move and the Russian team are supposedly going to be fined/punished for it.

I agree with you up to a point. The Blackhawks definitely stole the game once it went into overtime, where the Ducks were outplaying them for most of it, even though they had the same SOG in OT. Might not have gotten there though without a bit of puck luck for the Ducks' first goal, so I'll gladly take the steal in OT. During regulation, they were pretty much even with the Blackhawks taking the first period, Ducks taking the second, and fairly even in the third.

That was also the Blackhawks' fourth line with the GWG in OT3. Shaw with the first PPG (and later header) has been on the fourth line this series.

Game 3 will be interesting. Blackhawks at home will get the last change, so that may mess up the Ducks' matchups, along with the other perks of home ice advantage.

Yay Canada being kickass at hockey! Let's just not talk about how a bunch of the best American/Russian/Swedish players are/were still in the playoffs or didn't go though. Great for Crosby to have another feather in his cap, gold in all 3 major international tournaments and a Stanley Cup. The World Championship has always been a bit of a joke since most of the best players are still in the playoffs and many even decline the offer to play for their countries due to injuries or risk of injuries in a relatively unimportant tournament.

In other news I am extremely unhappy that Babcock is going to the Leafs. Being from the west coast I am obligated to hate the Leafs and only hope they get worse every year. Interested to see how McLellan manages to make another team with a ton of talent choke every year.

As a loyal Canucks fan it is pretty easy to pick who I want to win in this round, plus I would love for Stamkos to win a Cup.

@isomeri: It's pre-recorded and aired at times where there wouldn't be much of an audience.

America as a whole doesn't really give a shit about hockey, especially when compared to the NFL or the NBA. Personally, other than seeing a few ads during the NHL Playoff broadcasts, I didn't even know the IIHF was a thing that existed. Hockey is also only on NBCSN (aside from a handful of games each year) in the US, which is a cable channel that doesn't even come in any default cable packages, so you have to be a) paying for cable, and b) paying for the extra sports package to even watch it.

Just to make sure I wasn't talking out of my ass, I looked it up, and here's how the broadcasting rights in the US shake out according to wikipedia:

Since 2012, NBC's regular season coverage includes the annual NHL Winter Classic, an outdoor game usually played on New Year's Day; one national weekly regular season game each Sunday afternoon after New Year's Day; one week of regionally televised contests in February for Hockey Weekend Across America; and one nationally televised game on the day after Thanksgiving. NBCSN's coverage includes 90 regular season games that are mostly aired on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings (the latter dubbed Wednesday Night Rivalry), and later in the season on Sunday evenings. Coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is split between NBC and NBCSN, with CNBC and the USA Network^[2][3][4] (beginning in 2015) airing selected playoff games during the first two rounds.

So, of that list of channels:

• NBC: non-cable, available to everyone. Airs a handful of games each year (like less than 10)
• NBCSN: non-basic cable channel that generally requires an extra sports package subscription on top of a basic cable subscription. Airs like 95% of the NHL games each year.
• CNBC: basic cable. Airs a handful games in the early rounds of the playoffs when there are too many concurrent games
• USA: basic cable. Airs a handful games in the early rounds of the playoffs when there are too many concurrent games

I'd love for hockey to be more popular in the US, but that won't happen as long as it's relegated to a channel that most people don't even have access to.

@sergio: Yeah, that last change could be huge for the Hawks. The Ducks 4th line with Etem-Rakell-Sekac was mostly used for offensive zone play, but if the Hawks can make them play in the defensive zone then that could be a huge problem for the Ducks.

@dracomaster01: That's interesting and kind of the opposite of the Blackhawks. Their 4th line generally starts in the defensive zone, but is capable of scoring on any team.

I guess this is going to be a trend of the Blackhawks outplaying the Ducks for most of the period (not just thanks to some penalties), and the Ducks managing to make the most out of their opportunities; no way Crawford could stop that one. The referees finally found their whistles, which may benefit the Blackhawks in either getting more power plays or changing the Ducks' style.

Ducks outplayed the Blackhawks in the second period; I guess it helps when they realized that holding will be called and aren't taking penalties. That was a bad goal let in by Crawford leaving that side of the net wide open for no reason. He was having a stellar showing until that.

Great game by both teams. Ducks escape with a win to reclaim home ice advantage.

Bummer I had to work for most of this game. Could only really watch the last 4 minutes, and seeing the Hawks pull Crawford for those last 2 minutes was butt-clenching. This series is extremely even-matched (unlike the Jets/Flames series, no offense), and it's amazing!

Also, that backhand goal from Kane is just something else. Holy shit.

Let's go Lightning!

Didn't totally enjoy that last game, it's never good to give up 5 goals, but I'll take a win. It'd be nice to put away the series in two more wins and just rest while Chicago and Tennessee duke it out.