NHL Playoffs 2008

[Kanada Kev]

Yup, as stupid as it was, it was a way of finding a loophole/bending the rules to create a small advantage. Wouldn't really expect it from anyone but Avery either. It should be named after him I'm glad that they have changed it and now made it illegal though (but strange that they'd add a rule DURING the playoffs!)

It's interesting that they keep talking about how it does not fall within the 'integrity' of the game, yet the verbal abuse (again non-contact stuff that players do) that players toss at one another (and it's downright nasty) and while they're in front of the net does show integrity?

Good to see it gone ... wonder if Avery will get a few extra hits for his efforts

[Guest Low Roller]

I wonder what his linemate said to him while Avery was waving his stick in Brodeur's face?

[Kanada Kev]

Probably what everyone else was ... WTF are you doing Jackass!?

[AD]

The league shouldn’t be introducing new or clarified rules until they get some competent referees who can consistently call / enforce the rules that already exist. The first round has been brutal so far.

As for Avery, I thought it was hilarious. Good for him to find a new way to screen a goaltender. Stick in the face and all that can leave the game, but facing the dude and really getting in there without touching should be fair game.

[badams]

Probably what everyone else was ... WTF are you doing Jackass!?

or

What was Elisha like?

[c-towns]

but facing the dude and really getting in there without touching should be fair game.

are you kidding?

[Booche]

Bump this thread before I start spanking because I am trying to watch hockey over here!

[AD]

but facing the dude and really getting in there without touching should be fair game.

are you kidding?

not at all.

[Booche]

Anyone check out the San Jose - Calgary game?

I am totally fluffed. Like a head. Poor Flames.

PS: I still havent found a stance on the Avery-bit. Ref's discress. There's a shitload of factors in my mind and Gary Bettman hasnt solved anything with his latest response but what else can he do?

[Birdy]

I did.

[Booche]

Sorry Birdy.

[AD]

Gary Bettman hasnt solved anything with his latest response but what else can he do?

remove the instigator and let the players deal with it.

[Booche]

Aaaaaaaaaahhh............

There we go. I havent figured out that one either AD. Sometimes I fully believe in the instigator penalty and most times I dont.

Do you want to see goons skating around again?

I know that I dont. That shit slows the entire game down. At least players like Avery and Chris Neil can skate.

[c-towns]

Did you ever play any form of organized ice hockey AD?

[Birdy]

Sorry Birdy.

Thanks Booche!

[Tissue Man]

but facing the dude and really getting in there without touching should be fair game.

i think what Avery did was retarded and should be a penalty.. Actually Ron had the best way to deal with it, tell them to stop and if they don't a 10 minute misconduct..

[dave-O]

i think what Avery did was retarded and should be a penalty.. Actually Ron had the best way to deal with it, tell them to stop and if they don't a 10 minute misconduct.

Agreed. They didn't need a new rule, they just needed to enforce the one that already existed exactly as Ron suggested.

[AD]

There we go. I havent figured out that one either AD. Sometimes I fully believe in the instigator penalty and most times I dont.

Do you want to see goons skating around again?

I know that I dont. That shit slows the entire game down. At least players like Avery and Chris Neil can skate.

i haven't completely thought out my position, and i probably won't have a 'position' about this, but are they going to put in a rule saying "you must always look at the puck and if you're near the goalie you can only say nice things and make sure he is able to stop the puck even though you're supposed to be putting the puck past him, oh and don't think about touching him 'incidentely', even though he's a tough kid covered in 3 inch armour..."

i dunno. just thinking out loud. the rules aren't enforced as they are so who really cares. if they can't call simple tripping penalties but are tripping over themselves trying to determine what a player is allowed to do with his arms on a screen, i think something is fucked in the league office.

[hamilton]

Anyone check out the San Jose - Calgary game?

I am totally fluffed. Like a head. Poor Flames.

Fuck, I had to leave for work when there were only five minutes left - but the Flames were up a goal, so my hopes were high. I got to work, logged on and saw that Calgary had lost. WTF?!?

Still the best series of the playoffs so far, with Minnesota-Colorado a close second (minus last night's blowout, anyway).

[rubberdinghy]

It was quite funny though

[dave-O]

Just when you thought the Sun was bad, worst article about playoff hockey yet?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/15/AR2008041503637.html

Can't Gary Bettman pay off someone to ensure his meal ticket for the next decade advances to the second round? Doesn't Tim Donaghy live close by? Does he still have his whistle? Can he skate?

The Washington Capitals and their star Alex Ovechkin, the closest thing the NHL has to Kobe and LeBron, need some kind of help if they are going to genuinely awaken America to their game again.

All the pretty goals the playoff push promised? If Ovechkin can't shake loose soon, this Eastern Conference quarterfinal might go to the dogs soon.

The tenor of this rugged series is terrible news for hockey progressives everywhere, the way the Flyers have punked a nice bunch of free skaters who train in Ballston and used to be among the most feared offensive teams in the NHL.

A few Capitals employees nodded their heads approvingly when Mike Green squared off with Philadelphia's Scottie Upshall at the outset of the third period, as if to say, "Finally." But lost in the moment was an ugly truth: Green had never gotten into a fight at any level of the game according to HockeyFights.com, which tracks scraps all the way back to juniors.

When the Caps' offensive-minded defenseman lost it, Philly had won: Washington was trying to play the Flyers' bump-and-grind game.

Midway through the third period of this demoralizing 6-3 loss at Wachovia Center, 20,000 people in fluorescent orange howled for their World Extreme Cagefighters, and a crowd in the upper bowl chanted vulgarities at Ovechkin that went beyond the bounds of loutish fan behavior. As the frothing masses left the arena, they felt good about the bull being struck and killed -- checking the multi-generational Russian wizards Ovechkin and Sergei Fedorov into humility as much as the boards.

Give the Flyers proper respect: They were the team playing at the Capitals' former level, bum-rushing toward the goal at full speed, hitting everything in their sight.

This must gnaw at George McPhee's gut, especially the way the Capitals' general manager used to give no quarter as a player, unafraid to swap blows with bigger, stronger players.

But the Capitals hurt themselves, too: They couldn't get out of their own end for minutes at a time. Washington looked timid for much of the first two periods, the best four-on-four team in the NHL a month ago -- when each team is a man down -- mishandling the puck, losing its confidence with each careless cross-rink pass.

They stood around on the power play, waiting for someone to get open. Philadelphia has some rugged penalty-killers, quick and physical players who shave off two minutes of being a man down as if they prefer it to skating five-on-five.

The Flyers act like they would rather demoralize a psychologically wounded offense than score a short-handed goal.

Except for a pretty hesitation-and-fire goal from Green on the right wing in the second period and a score in Game 1, Washington is now 2 for 15 in power-play opportunities, a mere 13.3 percent.

For most of the evening, there was this unmistakable air of testosterone coming from the Flyers' direction that just reeked of physicality, a way of exerting their mauling style on the Capitals that just sent their denizens into some medieval state of euphoria.

"We want to make it physical between the whistles," Flyers Coach John Stevens said. "I think it's important for no other reason then it's the best tool we have to defend, to be honest with you. I think it's very important that we move our feet and finish our checks and get people pushed off the puck."

Translation: "We will keep punking the Caps until the NHL commissioner tells us not to."

Did we mention they show fights on the video scoreboard every period here, more than most arenas show dunks in the NBA?

Something about this R-rated environment is just not conducive to Ted Leonsis' Family Pack Night or Ovie on Ice. The contrasts are so stark and revealing.

The Caps' postseason slogan: "Rock The Red." The Flyers? "Vengeance Now," which comes across as less of a slogan and more of a sequel to Charles Bronson's "Death Wish."

The Capitals didn't come out as Eastern Conference foes; they entered the playing surface like Russell Crowe entered the Coliseum in "Gladiator." Flyer fans didn't want to beat Washington as much as see Ovechkin bludgeoned, his teammates emasculated.

It's almost impossible to fathom, but the Capitals took the ice in front of a building as loud as Verizon Center last Friday. The fans wore orange instead of the Capitals' red, and many of the women and children looked as if they could work security for Megadeth.

On I-95 entering town there is a billboard of Riley Cote, a stumpy rogue who engaged in 24 fights this season, twice as many as Capitals tough guy Donald Brashear. Cote's wild-man eyes and his quick fists are the only features shown of the Flyers' player.

Five minutes into the game, they showed a video of Philly's top brawls this past season, many involving Cote grabbing hold of an opponents' shirt for leverage before pummeling him to the ice, which is just a swell environment for children -- children of Patrick Roy.

They flat-out market and sell violence here, sanctioned, unbridled assaults disguised as sport.

The Flyers are an instant repudiation of what Gary Bettman wanted the league to become. They are a reminder of the NHL's pugilistic past that just won't go away. The result Tuesday night was Hartnell and Daniel Brière popping Cristobal Huet, making the Caps' goalie retaliate because no one on his team seemed interested in having his back at the moment.

Hartnell has become an annoying gnat in the crease, buzzing around Huet's ear now for two games as if he owns the area.

Unless Ovie and the Overachievers get untracked offensively soon and the sublime choreography of teamwork returns to the Capitals' line, there is but one hope left.

Quick, someone find a number for Donaghy.

[hamilton]

This Detroit-Nashville series is starting to get more interesting, too. Nashville is finally making a real series of it.

And they just chased Hasek out of net, too.

[Jaimoe]

Nashville looks terrible tonight on the power-play. Erat thinks he's the best player on the ice, which he is clearly not.

[Kanada Kev]

A game that gets Hasek chased from the net is a game I like to see. How close together were those Nashville goals? killer

[AD]

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