Official 10-11 NHL Playoff Thread

[batdad]

The guy who fell was jumping from one part of the viaduct to the other. Not exactly smart. It is not far at that spot I believe. But just freaking stupid. Apparently he is in critical condition. AND...he is not A Bruin fan, AND he was NOT PUSHED. AND he was not trying to commit suicide. Just did something (that is possible-but not smart to try) and did not make it. Just a stupid mistake.

[philou21]

Guy was probably drunk with his friends and like "Look and meeeeeeeee "*boom*. At first I heard the guy was dead but they said the opposite a couple of minutes ago on TV. Like you said he is in critical condition.

Can I change my avatar now? The joke is over right?


McQwak: You bet! Glad I'm not living there.

[batdad]

You can never change your avatar. The truth is out there.

In terms of living here...not a big deal really for 99% of the population. The damage and riots are within 6 blocks of a downtown core that is much much bigger than that. It is very localized area. Stupid and dumb and annoying...but not going to change the lives of 99% of the pop of the Lower Mainland. What you need to know is that this is not a town...not everyhwere that this happened. You would think after the Olympics that people would realize that already. It is mostly cleaned up already, windows will get dealt with in time (may run out of glass), and things will go on as normal. Just like after 1994, we will have some expensive reviews of this---you know Canada and its committees. and just like 1994 noone will listen.

[philou21]

You can never change your avatar. The truth is out there.

That's maybe not a big deal to clean all this stuff but the facts will still be in memories years after this, just like in Mtl. Though I would prefer Vcr x100 times over Mtl.

[bruins72]

B72--I wish I could say I know how you feel! I was born in 1969. The year the Canucks came into the league. For 2.5 decades I was wishing I could feel the way you feel now for "my team". 1994 changed that, Bertuzzi changed that, and now 2011 has changed that. I found myself cheering as a Canuck fan, and actually believing it might happen, for the first time in my entire life. 1982 and 1994 I never believed they would. This year...they started to make me believe. Then I saw the way they acted in game 1 against Boston, and I went back to normal even though the Nucks won.

I hear you! We had a couple teams in the late 80's and early 90's that almost made it and they had great teams. Sinden just never went out and got the guy that would put them over the top so they could win the Cup. I was a frustrated Bruins fan throughout the '90's and early 2ks. We had some teams that really didn't measure up. Ownership and management really took the fans for granted. They just expected everyone's devout loyalty when they routinely iced a mediocre team. Then we got all of the talk about how the salary cap was going to change things. O'Connell had gotten us into prime position (almost nobody under contract) to be able to put together an awesome roster once the cap was implemented. They expected everyone to sign for cheap and for teams not to offer big contracts just because there was a cap. They thought the players would be stuck and have to sign for whatever they offered. Boy did they figure wrong. They let go of some really good players and didn't do so well on the UFA market. It wasn't until Chiarelli took over that things started to move in a positive direction again and win back the old fans. Sure, Chia has made so mis-steps but I can't argue with the results.

Anyhow, I've heard from a lot of people that stopped following the NHL after the lockout and they're coming back into the fold.

Marchand-Is an ass, and despite what some B fans say..he will not stand up against bigger guys. Picks on the skills. He is a rat, he admits he is a rat. But he is one heck of a player. Much like Esa Tikkanen and Ken Linseman were. Great players who happened to be rats. He is a throwback. He is a rat who can play. There is only one other rat in the league who can play right now...that is Burrows. You only have room for one guy like that on a team, unless they can play. Could you imagine how annoying a Burrows-Kesler-Marchand line would be? Blech. SCore, yap, hit, slash, dash, bite, hair pull....

Sure, Marchand is a rat but I wouldn't put him in the hair pulling and biting category. Slashing? Yup! Playing punching bag with ginger twins' faces for kick? Yup! Yapping? Oh hells yes! I disagree with you though. He will throw down. He's not going to run from a fight. He probably won't fare well but he'll drop the gloves. And the kid really does have some nice skills. I'd say his skill set is that of a 3rd-liner/borderline 2nd-liner but his intangibles raise him above that.

I particularly liked Thomas in the handshake. The hug for Kesler..that better stop people from chirping Ryan for the way he plays the game. Pure class guy. Pure nothing but desire. It won't stop those in Chicago and Calgary I know...but Ryan Kesler? He is the consumate hockey player...and ANYONE should strive to be just like him.

When I spoke with other Bruins fans, Kesler was one of the few guys on the Vancouver that everyone said they really respected. I'm sure if he wasn't hurt he would have performed better.

Bieksa-Heart on his sleeve. Dude worked his tail off last night, and did EVERYTHING he could last night. Too bad he will no longer be a Canuck.

Another guy I wouldn't mind seeing in Black and Gold.

Thomas--Great handshake pic of him with Luongo. He chatting away to Roberto, ROberto basically just nodding and trying to get away. Loser ROberto. I did not like his attitude last night.

Luongo's behavior in this series has really soured me on the guy. I always ranked him among the league's best goalies but in this series I saw that he is a huge asshat. His snide comments about the one goal that Thomas let by in Vancouver in Game 5 really showed what he was all about. And then his whining that Thomas wasn't "pumping his tires" throughout this series? That was the icing on the cake. To Thomas' credit, he didn't stoop to Luongo's level.

I know you've never been a fan of Thomas' style of goaltending but you can respect what he's been able to do. I don't know how anyone can't respect the hell out of this guy. To do what he has and get where he is after being told he wasn't good enough and struggling for so long. They need to make a movie about him. It's just such a compelling story. And he really has a likable personality too.

LOOCH--Love his post game interview. Vancouver is special to him (Boston-you better not let him go UFA when it is time, because he will sign here in a second). He has won Mem Cup, World Jr, Stanley Cup, Canada-Russia series here. This dude is from here. He is a great great guy! Thanked like 100 friends from Vancouver as well as parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts...coaches. EVeryone except god. (Thank god).

Boston won't be letting him go! He's Neely's boy. He's the type of player they're trying to model this team after. He's a big part of their identity. They've got him under contract for a few more years and I'm sure they'll re-sign him.

I was kind of surprised that he wasn't more effective in this series. I thought he'd really want to shine in front of his friends and family in Vancouver. He wasn't playing his best throughout the playoffs. I think he's been playing through an injury but he's denied it whenever asked all through the playoffs. I wouldn't be surprised to see him go for surgery sometime in the next couple weeks.

Did you hear about what some of the asshats in Vancouver did to his family at the games? Some Vancouver reporter asked him about the people in Boston being rude to Vancouver fans when they series went to Boston. He replied that at the Vancouver games, some fans were throwing popcorn at his grandparents and some guys dumped beers down his uncles' seats. Classy.

Bergeron-Totally subpar series. Showed up last night (lucky break for his 2nd goal but still..got it).
Rechhi-Who can't love this guy. DAnny---YOu are a moron for wanting this guy scratched for Seguin. Everyone in Boston is a moron who wanted this guy scratched. He is something else.

Bergeron was there at other points in the playoffs. Different guys stepped up at different times. Seguin was huge for us in the middle of the Tampa series. Bergeron was big in the Montreal series and then again last night. This team had balance and depth.

Recchi... you've got to love him. He was slow and frustrating at some points in the season but he was so important to this team, especially deep in the playoffs. He got a couple key goals but even more important was his presence. He's the Papa Bear for these Bruins. You could just see the love there. I loved watching him interact with Bergeron and Marchand, especially last night. He knows what it's all about.

Chara-Still looks like Borat! But he got his stick or feet on anything Danny and Henrik tried to do. Great job. Did it perfectly.

I had a family member mention today that with the full playoff beard he looks like an uncle of mine that we don't talk to anymore. He's only a couple inches shorter than Chara too.

[Círyatan]

Briefly because I'm literally falling asleep with my laptop on my lap... Watching hockey at night instead of sleeping over the last couple of weeks takes its toll. Bruins were clearly the better team in the finals. All in all, even though I felt the series were pretty emotional, I can't say I'm satisfied with the effort the Canucks showed as a team, especially in the last two games. Those were just meh. Disappointing conclusion, and I don't mean the result. Still, congratulations to Boston. You guys enjoy it, because you earned it.

Bdiddy, if the Canucks let Bieksa go they are morons. If it comes down to him or Ehrhoff... I know it's not that easy to find a decent calibre puckmover, but Juice was one of only few guys who can say they gave it all this playoffs. Gillis is not a moron.

And the morons ravaging the city, don't know, out of boredom or due to advanced brain atrophy... I agree, they would've done it regardless of the result. Such a beautiful city, such an exciting playoff run... No words strong enough to describe that idiocy.

[batdad]

Canucks are not going to let Bieksa go. He is going to leave. Why would a guy like him, a stand up guy...want to stay in this city after the show of the players on this team. For the first time all year, he did not speak to media last night. That says alot to me. He has no interest in being here..very upset with his teammates and what happened last night.

Looch-yeah I heard about that. Same asshats burning cars and looting. Looch and family won't let it bother him

Sorry-I do not believe Marchand will drop them. He was avoiding Bieksa in those games that were violent and ugly. Big time. He did EXACTLY what Burrows does and Lapierre does...sure he had that little fisticuff session with Kesler I think, but nothing that suggests he will go. He was only interested in getting under the skin of guys.

This is not to say I don't like Marchand ... I do. But it is homerish. It would be exactly like me saying that Lapierre or Burrows are just doing their jobs poking and getting guys off games. Both have faught, but never when they are challenged by someone who could actually make them pay. Marchand..same thing. (Yeah prolly not going to bite or pull hair, but still...he is a rat...pure and simple). Mark my words that dude is going to cross the line and do a Cooke. And not stand up for himself. Again..very good player. But not a guy going to scrap anyone who could make him pay. He will let Looch do that for him. Just as Burr lets Bieksa or Glass do it for him

Bergeron would be heavily criticized for his performance in these playoffs had the Bruins lost last night. To say anything else would be homerish. He was not good enough throughout the playoffs to be deemed off the hook had Boston lost. He played solid last night, for sure. But that was all. He was just meh for the playoffs. He would be one of the guys taking big heat. So would be guys like Looch (skating hurt him...he could not catch the Canucks to play his game), Ference, Boychuk...they were just okay in the playoffs. Not good. They got lucky they played the mentally fragile Lebongo.

[Midas]

Not sure that's true at all. It might be, I don't know what's going inside his head, but he was outstanding this playoffs and proved his value on the team (unlike Ehrhoff...) He likes the guys in the room and was crying looking over at the next bench. He's also lived here his whole life. If we offer him a decent contract I wouldn't hesitate to say he'd bite and work with us. You don't lose a cup with a team like this just to desert them.

Canucks are not going to let Bieksa go. He is going to leave. Why would a guy like him, a stand up guy...want to stay in this city after the show of the players on this team. For the first time all year, he did not speak to media last night. That says alot to me. He has no interest in being here..very upset with his teammates and what happened last night.

Canucks had some classless behavior but they were far from being alone with it this series. It shocked me that the "Big Bad Bruins", who built their entire reputation on being nasty, tough and domineering would abhor their abrasive style- which on some accounts went too far, but attracted way too much criticism. I watch soccer too and in that game, diving is blamed on the refs not the players since you do anything it takes to win (and both sides did for 5 games until the B's ran with it)- since the onus is on them to control. Still, no excuses for the Canucks. Another pathetic Game 7 collapse, city implodes and the better team won out in the end.

[archibalduk]

Crikey I can't believe the bruins won!!! I'd been trying to avoid the scores for the final two games until I have a working laptop to watch the games, however I saw on the news this evening the rioting in Vancouver. Hopefully I'll be able to watch games 6 and 7 next week...

[Loosie]

Not to make light of the riots in Vancouver, but this picture makes me laugh:

[philou21]

Poor guy, I hope jail's bed will suit you.

[batdad]

Bieksa has not lived in VAn his whole life. Maybe 6 years. He is from Ontario. He grew up watching the Leafs. He played College hockey in the USA. Bieksa is not a Vancouver boy. He leaves unless the Nucks over pay him which they should.

My question about that stupid photo-So annoying that people keep posting pix like this all over the web. Just send it to the cops-is where did you loot the hockey stick from moron? No way in hell you have ever used one properly.

[Loosie]

This pic is from the National Post, so hopefully they have submitted them to the police as well.

[batdad]

No proof that kid did anything other than hold a hockey stick and act tough when he is not. Nothing going to happen to him out of that photo.

[McQwak]

National Post has the most expressive gallery of that rioting. Poor thing is that there is Canucks logo everywhere on those pics.

[philou21]

Wow, some of those pics are awesome in terms of photography seriously. The one with the couple kissing in the street is awesome. I don't want to look like I have prejudice of those people but on alot of photos you can see some punk/anarchist people( I know they are not all the same ) but some groups use that kind of occasions to cause troubles. They are not the only people involded, the other pics are there as a proof but they certainly enjoyed that. They start some fights or just break a window and let other people doing the rest and they watch.

[McQwak]

I noticed that, too, philou. By the way, aren't you punk, too? Argh, sorry, you're hard core metal fan

To get back to more positive discussion: have the Stanley Cup ever been highest than in Chara's hands?

[philou21]

From a man's hands I highly doubt it.

[philou21]

That would've been better if the Nucks had won but I found this on Youtube and I think it is awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aCvCe9mrpA&feature=aso

[Manimal]

Congratulations Bruins on a well-deserved Stanley Cup vistory !

I loved the intensity of these finals.
The offensive play, however, was a bit of a let-down. I mean, this is the top two teams in the league and I would have loved to see a higher standard of play. There were lots of technical errors on both sides but I'm most disappointed of the Canucks. The Sedins did practically nothing in the finals and Kesler can't do it all on his own. Raymond and Higgins were invisible and the third and fourth line doesn't have the skill.
Most of all, I'm dissapounted in the Sedins. They dominated in the regular season but wasn't there when the championship was on the line. -4 in Game 7 !?!
Daniel was responsible for the first goal as he let his guy(Marchand) go free after the face-off. The second goal he was in the way of Luongo, who might have saved it if given the chance.

Tim Thomas was awesome and the pairing of Chara and Seidenberg, wow! I never knew Dennis was such a good player.
Recchi was great and Marchand was on fire. The rest of the team played their roles well.
Oh, I cannot forget to say that I just love watching David Krejci play! Such a smart player.

Too bad their was so much embellishment and stickwork in the finals. The refs really should have called more penalties early to stop this. I'm all for tough play, hard hitting and the occasional fight, but this has to go away.

Again, congratulations to the Bruins !

[bestrafer7]

Too bad their was so much embellishment and stickwork in the finals. The refs really should have called more penalties early to stop this. I'm all for tough play, hard hitting and the occasional fight, but this has to go away.

the slashing that happened througout the series was insanse, it looked like lacrosse rules.

As for Game 7, there were way too many non calls. They let the game go and it did get out of hand. This was a horrible non-call (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXaOJZrDJ48), Higgins running Chara from behind with his elbow with the puck NO WHERE near Chara.

[philou21]

Higgins was lucky that the ref were doing an awful job but I also accuse Chara of diving. Tall as he is, a hit like that should never put him down. I remember somewhere else in the game someone slashing so darn hard a player and it wasn't even called.

[batdad]

Chara never saw him coming. It was a penalty on HIggins. CHara pivoting away and gets blindsided. On a smaller guy, Higgins may have injured him and been suspended. Well...at least because he was a Canucks and not a Bruin. I kid I kid.

I mentioned that one way back and the reffing in the series basically allowing WWE rules and going back to "old school" let the boys play hockey. It did not allow for the Sedin's to have a great series.

Manimal--The Sedins were really pretty good most of the time (other than the diving). THe trouble they had was that Chara was amazing on Henrik, who has lost about 40 lbs during the playoffs. His reach and body was always positioned well.Noone else in the league has been able to play the Sedins they way Chara has. Weber to some extent,but Chara was outstanding against them. It was not so much Dan and Hank...it was Chara and Thomas.

[Danny]

DAnny---YOu are a moron for wanting this guy scratched for Seguin. Everyone in Boston is a moron who wanted this guy scratched. He is something else.

Shuddup old man !
I'm a happy moron at least

[Midas]

You're right, I meant to say that he's been with the organization for the past 7 year and his entire professional hockey career. And I don't get where you come off saying he's leaving unless we overpay him. He's already said he wants to stay, wants to get a deal done here and is willing to take a pay cut to do it. He and the rest of the Canucks wanted to win badly, just apparently not as much as Bruins did in Game 7.

Ehrhoff though I wouldn't mind seeing gone. Rejected offers all playoffs apparently, was a complete no show in the last few games...I mean, if he's willing to take 5 or under sure but the guy was so inconsistent. But there's not a lot else on the market to deal with so .

Bieksa has not lived in VAn his whole life. Maybe 6 years. He is from Ontario. He grew up watching the Leafs. He played College hockey in the USA. Bieksa is not a Vancouver boy. He leaves unless the Nucks over pay him which they should.