NHL Hockey Thread

[mikebiacsi]

There are a couple of grudge matches being played tonight. The two New York teams play and so do Colorado and Detroit. I would love to see the Avs get the win there, what with Detroit dropping 9 goals one day and then 4 the next. Should be a good match. :)

[Matrix XII]

Yeah, what's got into the Red Wings :wacko:

[mikebiacsi]

Who cares?

LETS GO AVS!!!!!

[Boffa Jones Veteran]

Montreal vs Ottawa, hopefully Montreal can bump it up to 3 games, and take out a possibly cooling Ottawa. Either way it will be a great game to watch.

[Boffa Jones Veteran]

Well nevermind that. Apparantly Montreal couldn't make a decent pass in the first period, and their goalies couldn't make a decent stop throughout the first two periods so far. :(

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Well nevermind that. Apparantly Montreal couldn't make a decent pass in the first period, and their goalies couldn't make a decent stop throughout the first two periods so far. :(

Yeah, as I'm sure you know, they're currently dominating Montreal 7-2 with Spezza still out of the lineup.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

You know, I hate people who come into threads to troll but Razor sucks.

I feel justified in saying this because I am a Toronto native and I prefer to cheer for my home team.

Losing 6-1 to Vancouver when we majorly outshot them, however, sucks. That's all, carry on.

Disgruntled fans rip Razor

Boos rain down as Leaf goalie gives up 5 power-play goals in 6-1 loss

January 14, 2007

Mark Zwolinski

Sports Reporter

Now Andrew Raycroft knows how Larry Murphy felt.

The Leafs gave up five power-play goals, but the fans took out their frustration on the goalie with a level of derision not seen for a Toronto player since Murphy was the fans' whipping boy in the early 1990s.

"It's heartbreaking," Leafs captain Mats Sundin said of the boos and catcalls which rained down on Raycroft after Vancouver rifled in its fifth and sixth goals in a 6-1 win before an Air Canada Centre record crowd of 19,608.

Sundin came to the defence of his goalie and for the first time in recent memory, used the f-word in a public comment.

"For a guy that plays his heart out and in my opinion had a (expletive) pretty solid first half of the season," Sundin said. "They got five of their goals on the power play, a 5-on-3 goal and our special teams were terrible. That was the big difference."

The Leafs took 10 penalties, blew a 5-on-3 chance of their own when the game was only 2-1 in Vancouver's favour and outshot the Canucks 36-21, thanks in large part to a strong opening period.

Vancouver went up 2-1 on Daniel Sedin's power-play goal 39 seconds into the middle period.

The backbreaker for the Leafs came after Tomas Kaberle was called for hooking at 3:46 of the third.

The Leaf bench erupted with frustration and Bates Battaglia got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The Leafs claimed Battaglia said nothing, but someone on the bench clearly carried a verbal protest too far with the officials.

"I can tell you Bates Battaglia did not say one word," Leafs coach Paul Maurice said.

"It's just an unfortunate situation on our bench. I'll take the hit. ... Someone gave (the official) an earful. ... I think it was a young mistake."

With two glorious minutes of two-man advantage, Vancouver buried the Leafs. Trevor Linden snapped in a wrist shot to Raycroft's glove side at 4:39 and Taylor Pyatt laid in a deke goal on a breakaway 13 seconds later for a 4-1 lead.

That was bad enough, but Raycroft was beaten again to the glove side on a Sami Salo slapper from the point at the 13:00 mark that the Leaf goalie caught a piece of with his glove but watched helplessly as it fluttered into the net. Markus Naslund scored at 17:29 – only his second goal in 20 games – and that was about all Leaf fans could take.

"Everyone up there was from Vancouver in the end," Raycroft said about the boos, which came every time he touched the puck following Naslund's goal.

"All the die-hard Leaf fans went home by then and all the others who paid $500 for their tickets got their money's worth. They pay good money to watch us play and they can do what they want, especially with what I do. I can be the (target)."

Mattias Ohlund had the other goal for Vancouver, which took four penalties in the first period. The Canucks didn't register a shot until the fourth minute and couldn't get the Sedin twins – Daniel and Henrik – on the ice until the eighth minute because they spent all that time killing penalties.

The loss dropped the Leafs' record at the ACC to 10-12-3 this season, something Sundin said must change.

"Our record is .500 at home. ... You're not going to make the playoffs that way," he said.

Washington and the Islanders – teams directly behind the Leafs in the Eastern Conference standings – also lost last night.

That left the Leafs in ninth place, one spot behind Tampa, which holds the final playoff berth.

Toronto and Tampa meet Tuesday, opening a stretch where eight of the Leafs' next nine games are on the road.

In the meantime, Maurice said Alexei Ponikarovsky (shoulder) will likely return to the lineup Tuesday in Tampa. Darcy Tucker (foot) is a strong possibility as well, but the club may give him an extra two days and have him return Thursday against the Panthers. Nik Antropov (ankle) is also very close to returning and could be back Thursday.

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/170975

Edited January 14, 2007 by Fred Derf
I'm not alone

[H5N]

A good, entertaining game today between Flames and Oilers. :)

[mikebiacsi]

So we are now over halfway through the season. Anyone care to make some wild guesses on how the season will finish? Here are a few things that i think will happen.

Crosby wins the points race.

Ovechkin scores more goals than anyone else.

Crosby will be the MVP this year.

Anaheim will win the presidents trophy.

Brodeur wins the Vezina trophy. (it is the Vezina trophy for best goalie isn't it?)

The 8 teams from the east to play in the playoffs will be:

Buffalo

Atlanta

New Jersey

Montreal

Ottawa

Carolina

New York Rangers

Pittsburgh

The 8 from the west:

Anaheim

Nashville

Vancouver

Detroit

San Hose

Calgary

Dallas

Colorado

As for who will win the Stanley cup, ummm, i'll say Anaheim.

Anyone else wanna make some predictions?

[youm0nt Veteran]

islanders vs devils last night was insane.islanders tied it up with .8 seconds left.

[Boffa Jones Veteran]

Holy crap, the Habs are playing with absolutely no fire. They have almost no backcheck by their forwards and there is really no excuse for them not to be winning these games. I mean detroit I can understand, but they have been playing horrible hockey the past few weeks.

[mitch00]

Indeed, Boffa :(

[Boffa Jones Veteran]

As my team in the east collapses in on itself, my team on the west is doing amazing. Huzzah Canucks.

[mikebiacsi]

Heh, Rory Fitzpatrick scored his first goal for the Canucks last night against Ottawa. Good on him i say :D

[Matrix XII]

haha yeah I saw that, such a bad goal too lol

I can't wait for Vancouver vs. Buffalo tonight! Going to be a good one.

[AJerman]

So we are now over halfway through the season. Anyone care to make some wild guesses on how the season will finish? Here are a few things that i think will happen.

Crosby wins the points race.

Ovechkin scores more goals than anyone else.

Crosby will be the MVP this year.

Anaheim will win the presidents trophy.

Brodeur wins the Vezina trophy. (it is the Vezina trophy for best goalie isn't it?)

The 8 teams from the east to play in the playoffs will be:

Buffalo

Atlanta

New Jersey

Montreal

Ottawa

Carolina

New York Rangers

Pittsburgh

The 8 from the west:

Anaheim

Nashville

Vancouver

Detroit

San Hose

Calgary

Dallas

Colorado

As for who will win the Stanley cup, ummm, i'll say Anaheim.

Anyone else wanna make some predictions?

You can't pick the same team team to win the cup as the President's trophy! :p

[Matrix XII]

I'm going with San Jose in the west and Buffalo in the east. Of course I'm cheering for the Canucks though lol

[H5N]

Canucks have really picked up in the past few weeks. They're playing great.

Well, so are my Flames :p. Just shutout Oilers :D

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Anaheim and Buffalo but I'd be thrilled if the Leafs just made the playoff.

The Leafs need to trade for Backstrom or some other goalie. Giving up 8 last night was so sad.

Edited January 21, 2007 by Fred Derf

[mikebiacsi]

You can't pick the same team team to win the cup as the President's trophy! tongue.gif

Heh, yeah i suppose. Although someone should have said that to the Red Wings team of 2001-2002. :p

[R-Flex]

How does everyone feel about the vote about the schedule?

I'm absolutely disgusted with the way that Bettman is running this league, and how a minority of Eastern teams dictated to the entire league their choice, simple because they enjoy limited travel.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Just because you want to win a few more games against Toronto isn't a reason to change the schedule. :D

[R-Flex]

Just because you want to win a few more games against Toronto isn't a reason to change the schedule. :D

You'd be surprised!

I actually hate the Canucks more than I hate the Leafs. So I was cheering on your boys when they lost.

I'm actually a Rangers fan.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

HOCKEY IN BIG D

When the NHL came to Texas in 1993 after the Minnesota North Stars moved south, there were only five sheets of ice in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

There are now 25 sheets of ice in Dallas, where the NHL All-Star game was played Wednesday night.

"This has been an incredible success story in terms of the development of the game," commissioner Gary Bettman said. "It's a testament to the great fans we have here and to the Stars organization."

When the Stars arrived, there were no high school hockey teams in the area. Now there are 70. The number of youths playing organized hockey has increased from about 250 to more than 5,000.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylt=AsFO...p&type=lgns

[mikebiacsi]

It's such a shame hockey isn't as big in England as it is in North America. I would love to be able to learn how to play hockey and play a few games, but there is no where for me to learn. Oh well.

In other news Theodore stops 38 shots and the avs lose 3-1 to detroit. :(