Stanley Cup Playoffs — Round 2 Begins

Hello everyone!  No I have not fallen off the face of the earth.  But I have been sick and swamped with work.  Even as I sit here typing, I should be working on a project for work.  But tonight is the first night of Round 2 and I just have to take a break for HOCKEY!!!  Tonight we are blessed with the battle of the hockey eye candy teams.  I don’t there are two other teams in the league with so many sweet young things on their rosters.  Since I think they are both quite pretty, I’m going to back the team that I like to watch play the most and that would be the Chicago Blackhawks.  They play a clean fast paced game.  The Canucks can get a little mean and drive me crazy with all the unnecessary penalties.  But they are very very pretty.  So at the very least it should be a fun game/series “to look at”. 

My favorites from the first round did not fare too well.  In the WC, San Jose, Columbus and St Louis all lost.  Only Chicago won.  In the EC, Montreal and New Jersey lost with Washington and Pittsburgh winning.  I still can’t get over the last minute meltdown of the Devils, that was a gut wrencher.  And I feel really bad for San Jose, that is going to be a hard hill to climb back up for them.  I was soooo relieved to see the Rangers lose.  If I had had to hear one more thing about how great Avery was, I was going have to cut somebody. 

As for this round, I’ll be backing the Hawks, which probably means they are doomed.  My other favorites and I use that term loosely because I don’t have too much interest in any of them, are the Pens, the Wings and I almost forgot the Canes.  I will be really pulling for them, even though they did beat the Devils.  (How bout that Jussi!)  I would loooove to see them beat the Ruins. 

In Stars news, unfortunately, it continues to be sad around here.  First, Joel Lundqvist gets hurt in the Worlds and then we hear that he will not be returning to the Stars next year.  I’m not terribly surprised by this because he has had a really rough year and when they signed Sudsy, I kinda felt it didn’t bode well for Joel.  I hope he rehabs well and lands somewhere where he can really come into his own, like Winchester in St Louis and Jussi for the Canes.  We have always adored Joel, best smile on the team and a real sweetheart to the fans.  We wish nothing but the very best.  We’ll miss you, Joel.

In other more scary than sad news, our young stud, Real Deal James Neal had a stick find it’s way under his shield and into his eye.  Causing a cut to both his upper and lower eyelid.  Sounded like a really frightening experience for him.  I’m glad Dave Tippett was there, since his parents hadn’t come over yet.  His eye is alright and I just hope and pray his beautiful eyelashes are as well.  One of the best things about HDTV, James Neal’s eyelashes.  We wish you a full and speedy recovery, young Mr. Neal. 

The game has begun so I’m signing off for now.  I’ll check back in later.

Just 2 minutes in and the Canucks have already been called for boarding.  Are we surprised?  Anyone?  Anyone?

Fun fact, Chicago has 20 players on their roster that are 25 or younger. That means I’m old enough or should I say, they are young enough for me to be their official team mom.

Ok, Hawks, you are not supposed to be the team getting all the penalties. That is supposed to be the Canucks job.

If you want ice cream after the game, no more penalties.

Well, we go to first intermission with the score at 1-0, Canucks.  The Hawks need to settle down, now that they know how the refs are going to be calling it.

Playoffs — Round 1, Game Day 3

Tonight I’m half watching the Pens/Flyers Game 2.  My observations so far.  Hartnell is always on the ice, I must look up how many minutes he plays.  I love his hair.  I didn’t think I would but pregame, when it is in its full curly and red glory, love it.  And I can’t believe he got away with throwing his stick earlier. 

I still love Marty Biron’s eyes.  And I still think the Flyers coach is a fox. 

I have no history with Bill Guerin, so I have no trouble saying I think he is very attractive (I love Harry Connick, Jr. too), so I was glad to see him score.  Also, he is taking care of our little Sid, so I have to love him for that.  I’ve always felt sorry for Sidney Crosby.  I just feel like he has been set up to fail by being so over hyped and made team captain at such a young age.  No one should be team captain at his or Tazer’s age.  It’s ridiculous to put a kid in that role.  Sorry, I always go into a rant on that.

Bottom line.  I pretty much like both teams.  Crazy, I know, since most people seem to hate both teams.  The EC effect perhaps, since I don’t have to see them much and they rarely play the Stars.

My favorites have not fared very well.  In the WC, San Jose, St  Louis and Columbus all lost but favorite to go all the way, Chicago won.  In the EC, I fared a little better with the Devils and Pens winning and Montreal and the Caps losing.  Ah, well, I’m my father’s daughter, I always like the underdogs.

Pens vs Flyers — Round 1/Game 1

Good evening folks, anybody been going through hockey withdrawal yet?  I know we are.  We are looking forward to getting to see a little hockey tonight.  Our playoff watching will be limited to what is on Versus and NBC, since we do not have Center Ice.     So we will be watching the Pens/Flyers series and Blues/Canucks.  I don’t really have a preference in the Pens/Flyers matchup but will probably be leaning towards the Pens because of former Star, the lovely Mr. Boucher.  As to the Blues/Canucks series, I’m backing the Blues.  I think the Canucks are very pretty to look at but I hate their style of play. 

I’ll be commenting on the games here tonight and posting Hub’s picks for the first round of the playoffs.

Ok, I have a hard time getting into games on Blersus.  Bleh.

So here are the Hub’s picks:

EC

Boston in 6

Washington in 5

New Jersey in 7

Pittsburgh in 6

WC

San Jose in 6

Detroit in 7

St Louis in 7

Chicago in 5

As for me, I just can’t wrap my mind around figuring out how many games it will take for someone to win a series.  Too much work!

So instead I’m just listing who I want to win or more accurately, who I want to lose:

WC

San Jose — because I hate the Ducks.

Columbus — I just love Steve Mason and who isn’t tired of the Wings winning?

St Louis — because I hate the way the Canucks play, too many penalties and I love BJ Crombeen.  Darn GMs for letting him get away.

Chicago — because I love, love, love their PR department with all the crazy videos they post and Adam Burish, need I say more?

EC

Montreal — because I loathe the Bruins, Jack Edwards and all their whiny bloggers.

Washington — Sean Avery, nough said.  The mere thought of him winning anything makes me nauseous.

New Jersey — I adore Zach Parise and Martin Brodeur.

Pittsburgh — I love Sidney Crosby, probably even more since everyone else has started hating him.  But I also love Martin Biron, so I’m a little torn on this one and I think their coach is a total fox in an accountant turned hockey coach kind of way.

Stars 3 vs Ducks 4 SO — Turn Out The Lights, The Party’s Over

Welcome everybody to the last game of the season.  Sigh.  Some are saying could be Lehts last game.

No pre-game.

Lines for the night:  Ribs with Ott and Bunny                   Mo with Lehts and Sudsy          

Tommie with Loui and Nealer                  B-Mo with Bégin and Conner

Nisky and Fisty again                                                Grossie and Hutch

Vish is back with Syd!  Looking forward to see what he’s got tonight.

Stars going on the Power Play.  Can’t wait to see what Vish does!!!  Rats, make that the Stars go on PK.  Survive the penalty but give up goal afterward.  Ducks 1-0.

Ok, now we are going on the power play.  Vish out at point,  yes!  Ribs, Loui, Nisky and Bunny on first unit.

Second unit, Syd, Hutch, Tom, Neal and Ott.  Get nothing.

Brookbank tries to take Ott’s head off.  Otter was seriously mad.  Don’t see that very often.

Getzlaf give Fisty back his head.  Right now. 

First Intermission:  Brenden Morrow interview!  Bright spots:  Neal, Loui and Otter!  Can’t wait to see Morrow back on the ice.  I hope this summer flies by (and Hub gets a new job here so I can get partial season tickets again)!

Second Period:

Survive the penalty kill. 

Nieder, the younger, gets called for hooking on Neal.  OTTER SCORES!!!  Gets a juicy rebound!  1-1!  Me thinks the Ducks don’t like Ott very much judging by the crowd reaction.

Corey Perry gets called for tripping.  Power play uneventful. 

Stars are gaining momentum, I think.  B-Mo goes to the penalty box to end the second.

Second Intermission:  Otter interview is killing me.  He’s been pretty quiet the last few games.  I think missing the playoffs has been really hard on him.  NEED..MORE..TISSUES.  I’m going to miss him saying, “Absolutely!”

Otter sitting next to the Ducks bench.  With the crazy man stair down.  The kid never ceases in finding ways to make me laugh.  Killing me.

I think Fisty has been ruffling some duck feathers, too, tonight.

Pooh.  Nieder, the old, scores.  2-1, Ducks.

I really don’t like Getzlaf.  Goes to the box for holding.  Power Play is on.  I don’t care what they say, I don’t like Ribs on the power play. 

Getzlaf takes out Corey Perry.  I don’t think Corey Perry can say Corey Perry three times fast right now.

YES!!!  BUNNY SCORES ON THE REBOUND!!!  2-2!!!

Dangit!  I didn’t even get to update the post and the Ducks score.  Ugh.  3-2, Ducks.

I was really starting to enjoy this last period.  Starts off with premium Otter shenanigans,  Getzlaf gets a penalty, Getzlaf takes out Corey Perry, Bunny scores for the tie and then the Ducks scores.  Sigh.  BUT WAIT OTTER IS NOT DONE YET!!!  With 13 seconds to go, OTTER SCORES!!!  That was a freakin’ great third period!!!

Overtime:  No goals. 

Shootout: 

Corey Perry–no goal

Bunny–no goal

Bobby Ryan–no goal

Nealer–GOAL!!

Getzlaf–goal

Mo–no goal off the crossbar

Teemu Selanne–goal

Loui–no goal

Win goes to the Ducks.

That final highlights piece was amazing!  Still some great moments there.  I can’t believe it’s over.  I’ll be around during the playoffs for sure.  And don’t get freaked if you see some baseball talk.  Depends on how bored I get and how well the Rangers do.  After today’s game, not too sure I want to go there. 

I do want to take moment to thank Sarah, Teri, Life, Patty and the SHR girls for hanging out with me all season!  It really has been fun to have someone to watch the games with! 

So for one more time….GO STARS!!!

Stars 3 vs Avs 2 SO — Ribs is Totally Sick!

Well folks, here we are, our next to last Stars game of the season.  It’s hard to believe, the end is so near.  Sigh.  I think the Stars have a great chance to win tonight.  The Avs have had about the same luck on injuries, see Andrew’s Stars Page for Mark’s great post on the man-games lost to injuries.  I’m excited to see Climie in goal again tonight, get to see a little more of what the kid can do.  I didn’t get to see much of Vish’s game the other night so I’m looking forward to seeing what he’s got, too. 

Right now, I’m watching the Flyers/Rangers game on Yahoo.  I’m not sure how long I can stay with it though.  The announcers are having a Sean Avery Love Fest.  Ugh.  I was so hoping the Flyers would beat the Rangers and somehow the Panthers would end up in the 8th spot or Buffalo or anyone other than the AveryRangers.  Blah.  I’m pretty sure I’m going to be rooting for Chicago and Columbus from the West and the Devils and I’m not sure who else in the East. 

Catcha back here at game time.

Pre-game:  Not a lot going on there.  Nice piece on Loui.  Loui and Ribs are the only two Stars left who have played every game this season.

First Period:  Climie is starting with Turco as back up. 

Ribs with Ott and Bunny                 Mo with Lehts and B-Mo

Tommie with Loui and Nealer            Joel with Parrish and Bégin?

Grossie & Hutch                   Vish with Syd              Niskie with Fisty

Niskie goes to the naughty box for slashing.

Have Vish out on PK along with Fist, B-Mo and Bégin.  Penalty Killed.

Thought Ott had one for sure, fired a little too soon. 

Stars on power play after some Av gets called for cross checking.  Got Vish on point as well.  Hmm.  Rookie power play unit?  Neal, Tommie and Vish.

Ooo.  Just saw Sudsy back in. 

First Intermission:  Nothing interesting what so ever.  Boo.

Second Period:  This is soooooooooo boring.  I’m losing all will to blog. 

Niskie goes to the box again?  Still playing the young ones on the PK.  Not bad.

Hutch goes to the box for hooking?  Weak. 

“An eventuallity” from Razor.  Avs score on the power play.  1-0.

Second Intermission:  Nealer interview.

Third Period:  Stars pick up the pace.  Bunny scores!  Tied.  Bégin scores to take the lead with around 3 minutes to go.  Then in less than a minute the Avs score and tie it up.  Argh! 

Goes through OT with some fast paced exciting play but no goals. 

Shootout was amazing!  Pretty goals by Bunny and Nealer and then an amazing one by Ribs.  He is just sick.   

What a fun ending!

Stars 1 vs Wild 3

Hey all!  We are going to be out tonight, dinner at my sister’s and shopping for Easter dresses.  So we will be watching on DVR or joining the game late depending on when we get home.  I’ll miss you guys! 

And as always, GO STARS!!!

Joining in time for the third period.  3-0, Wild.  Argh.

Bunny scores!!!  3-1.  Hope springs eternal.  Or maybe not.  3-1, Wild, final.

Woah.  Where did that period go?  I really didn’t get to see much.  Climie in goal and Vish playing in his first NHL game.  Hate that I missed so much with only 2 more games to go.  I can’t stand going 3 or 4 days without watching the Stars.  This is going to be one long summer. 

Head’s up fellow Stars bloggers, we are planning to have some playoff watching parties.  Be ready to make suggestions on games you might want to get together for. 

Oh and since Hub is a big Rangers fan, we will be watching plenty of the Rangers, so we may be doing some blogging about them. 

In the meantime, I will be here for the two final Stars games.  GO STARS!!!

House of Blues, No More — Final Home Game, L2L Style

Well folks, what can I say, last night was a blast!  Such a fun game to end our season tickets with.  We started off the night meeting up with The SHR Girls (along with their friend, Nick, so Hub wasn’t the only guy), Jen from The Shootout, Caitlin (formerly of Hockey Coma) and Patty from Penalty Killing for dinner at The House of Blues.  Yes, I know, it just seemed appropriate.  Where we enjoyed a lively conversation of hockey for one last time this season.  Then we moved on to the game.  It was Fan Appreciation Night so they were giving away things all through the night.  The best being game worn jerseys being signed and given to fans right there by the actual player.  It was bittersweet for sure watching Zubov, Morrow, Richards, Turco and Robidas all giving away jerseys while they were in their suits.   

The game was fast paced and interesting throughout.  I liked what I saw of Climie, yes, he let in 4 goals but I don’t think any would have been considered a “soft” goal.  He seemed pretty confident playing outside the net, especially for a first timer coming up from the ECHL.  He and Bachman should make things interesting in the next couple of years.  Makes me look forward to prospects camp. 

We were thrilled to see Fistric back in the game being his usually hard hitting self.  Five blocked shots and, yeah, two penalties but I’m willing to take the good with the bad for now.  He is still learning how to draw the line.  But he just keeps improving and is soooo much fun to watch play.  Our other two young d-men had pretty good nights as well.  Grossman continues to amaze with his maturity and is really starting to make those hard hits as well.  Then there is Niskanen, oh how we love our Nisky!  His puck movement is a delight to behold.  One of my favorite plays of the night was his moving the puck down the ice showing some incredible puck handling skills and making a beautiful pass to Ribs for the second goal.  That is the Nisky we want to see more of, along with him playing point on the Power Play.  I think he has huge potential there.  Then there was Daley.  Wow.  Made a HUGE save that kept us in the game and then scores the game winner.  Let’s see that is two defensive defensemen and two offensive defensemen making major leaps in their growth this year.  I have high hopes for all of their futures.  In case you hadn’t noticed, I really like defensemen. 

I really like Bégin and Morrison on the Penalty Kill.  They were paired on every kill and did great job of covering the ice.  They both just seemed to be everywhere at once.  If they had more time to develop, I think we would be seeing some shorthanded goals from those two.  Tom Wandell had an excellent game and showed some sick deke moves out there.  Can’t wait to see what he develops into.  Brunnstrom did some really great work along the boards.  You can tell he is really trying to work on his defensive side.  But please don’t lose those incredible hands, talk about a great puck mover.  Then there is James Neal.  What can you say about Neal that hasn’t already been said?  He’s alot like Morrow in his tenacity and big hits but has even better scoring abilities in the making. 

But of course I have left the best for last.  Who scored the 4th and tying goal of the game?  Yes, that would be none other than our favorite little ice troll, Steve Ott, making a gorgeous breakaway goal and showing us what an amazing scoring ability he really has.  Wow.  It literally brought tears to my eyes, I cannot lie.  Too bad they couldn’t get another goal during regulation.  But at least they finally beat the Blues this season. 

The end of the game was really fun, starting with the players salute from mid-ice and their throwing pucks and t-shirts into the crowd.  Then ending with the literal giving away of the jerseys on their backs to some very lucky fans.  I loved that both Otter’s and Nealer’s jerseys went to some really little fellows.  So cute.  We found it really funny that it worked out for Bunny to be the last one (they went in jersey number order) since he is always the last one to finish in any autographing line we have every been to.  But then some of the autographs that we have seen of his have been like works of art.  The guy really is quite talented.  Oh, and Otter got the biggest ovation of any of the guys on the ice.  Sorry, I just had to say it.   

Also, I have to confess that I was a little distracted during the third period.  Our seats for the last few games have been on the offensive end a little below and to the side of the press box.  We always get a kick out of finding Mike Heika, Richard Durrett, Tracy Meyers and Bob Strum up there.  Well, this time I looked up to find first Stephané Robidas and then later Brad Richards up there.  I’m not sure why I found this so squee-ishly fascinating.  I’ve seen both before on more than one occasion at the Stars Center.  Anyway. 

After all the post game festivities we went down to meet up with all the girls again.  We stood and rehashed everything for a while until they finally had to shew us out of there.  I guess none of us wanted to see it end.  It was a great way to end the season though. 

I’ll be around to blog the last few games and do some end of season wrap up.  See ya then and as always, GO STARS!!!

Stars 5 vs Blues 4 OT

Good morning all.  I’m writing this morning because we are going to be heading out pretty early this afternoon to meet up with several of the Stars bloggers for dinner before the game tonight.  It will be good to see everyone one last time before the end of the season.  End of the season, ugh, not looking forward to that.  Last summer seemed to last forever, but I was unemployed then so maybe this one will go by faster.  I have not decided who I want to root for in the playoffs.  Definitely the Devils in the East, but that’s not looking so good at the moment.  Hopefully, they are just having a little slump and will come out strong in the first round.  In the West, it’s hard, by the end of the season, I tend to hate them all.   

I guess you probably have already seen the big news about tonight’s game.  Turco will probably not play.  Lower body injury.  They called up Matt Climie.  I’m guessing we’ll still see Stephan in goal tonight but it would be interesting to see what Climie has got.  Fistric, Sutherby and Daley are possible for tonight.  Still no word on Robi, has anyone heard anything that I have missed on him? 

LATE UPDATE:  This just in (I’ve always wanted to say that).  Matt Climie is going to start in goal tonight.  Wow.

I’m not going to say much about Mo considering retiring.  Other than if I were him, I’d hate to look back on this as my last season.  And if he does come back, maybe they can make him a healthy scratch every so often (kinda like Chelios but not that extreme) so he doesn’t get as worn down mentally.  I know they couldn’t do that this year because of all the injuries. 

Speaking of injuries, I do think they should do some serious evaluation of their training methods, just to make sure they are not missing something there.  I’m fairly certain all these injuries are just bizarre bad luck but it wouldn’t hurt to take a look at what they’ve been doing.

I think that’s about all I have about the Stars today.  Last night, Hub and I went to watch another Dallas Stars team play.  We have friends whose sons play hockey (they are from Canada, big surprise!)  and their youngest is playing for the Dallas Stars Select team in the Tier II Under 14 National Championship Tournament that is going on in Plano this weekend.  Last night they played a team from Massachusetts and won pretty handily 5-0.  I must say the skill level these kids already show is pretty amazing.  Their puck handling skills still have a ways to go and going on power plays is a whole different story.  TONS of breakaways.  The Dallas team actually plays 3 forward and 1 defenseman on their PENALTY KILL for just that purpose.  We have not had any experiences in youth sports so it was a pretty interesting evening just watching and listening to the parents.  Crazy man.  I thought that the mom behind me saying “Oh Mylanta!” over and over again was going to drive me nuts.  I know, it could have been lots worse.    Oh and Hub spotted Stu Barnes in the crowd and Nastia Lupin (sp) the gymnast was there.  And lots and lots of young hockey players, I still can’t believe I couldn’t talk the Kid into coming?!?

Well, I guess I better get going.  Brandon Worley always has a great live thread going for the game over on Defending Big D, if y’all are looking for somewhere to hang out for the game. 

I’ll catch up with y’all later.  GO STARS!!!

Stars 1 vs Flames 2 — Going Down, Down, Down but the Flames, They Went Higher

Well, I don’t know about y’all but winning is sooo much more fun than losing.  It was sure nice to see the boys back in the win column.  They really seemed to be clicking  the other night.  I hope they can carry it over to tonight.  I don’t have too much in the way of  news to share.  You have probably already seen that Fistric and Sutherby will be out one more game.  Sudsy has a strained oblique, yeah, I know what you are all thinking.  Starts with, “I’d like to strain…”  Moving on, Fisty has a deep pectoral bruise.  Ouch.  I’m assuming since they did not mention Robi, Daley and Barch that they are still out.  Sigh. 

Pre-game:  Brenden Morrow is sitting in for Craig Ludwig!  Excuse me while I squeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

I love Ralph’s glasses tonight.  I want to know where he gets his glasses.  I have an affinity for geeky retro glasses and he seems to have a lot.

Darryl Sydor has played 3 times as many games as all the other Stars d-men combined.

AHHHHHH!!!  Otter blowing a big pink bubble.  Hub even rewound it for me. 

Game:  And we start off with Mo centering for Loui and Bégin.  Grossie and Hutch on the D.

Ribs with Ott and Lehts.  Nisky with Dan-Jan.

Loui is back out there with B-Mo and Tommy.  Syd with Staff.

Joel centering for Neal and Bunny.

And BRUNNSTROM SCORES!!!!!!!!!  1-0, STARS!!!

They now have Conner out there with Mo and Bégin. 

Ok, every time I hear Nystrom now, I think of the strip tease Art had up on Stars Scene the other day.

It hit the crossbar!!!  NO GOAL, BERTUZZI!!!

But that one was a goal.  Iginla scores.  Pooh.  1-1.

We hate this ref, constantly throwing guys out of the circle.  Just drop the puck, dude.

Regehr gets called for roughing but he didn’t look so good himself.  Otter draws the call after making the hit.  Have 20+ seconds of power play before intermission.

First Intermission:  I want to take this opportunity to send a shout out to Ingrid in Norway!  I know you can’t join us live because it’s the middle of the night in Norway right now but feel free to leave a comment whenever you can.  I still want to know how you became a Stars fan in Norway.  I know I’ve told this before but I grew up in the largest Norwegian settlement in Texas and the King of Norway actually visited our town once.  (And most of my friends last names ended in either -son or -stad.)  So, I’m very excited to know a Norwegian Stars fan! 

Tracy Meyers doing the intermission show.  Sorry, no Brenden.

2nd Period:

Start off on the Power Play.  But get nothing. 

Otter gets called for cross checking but we missed it.  So I have no opinion.  Stars kill of the penalty.

Otter has been stirring the pot a little more tonight. 

Dangit, Dion Conroy scores.  2-1, Stars.  And then Ribs gets called for holding.  Loui makes a nice breakaway attempt.  Pk looking pretty good there.  Killed.

Second Intermission:  Razor is interviewing the tournament director for USA Hockey.  We know someone on the Dallas Stars Select team and are going to watch him play tomorrow night.  Looking forward to it.  I couldn’t talk the Kid into going with us, even with the lure of tons of hockey players in the under 14 age category.  I must be failing somewhere.

3rd period:

Ok, boys, we need some goals.  Nice breakaway attempt by Otter. 

Penalty coming up for tripping.  TIME FOR A DALLAS STAAAARS POWER PLAY!!!  I love it when Bill says that.

OOf, poor Nealer gets hit in the tummy by Mo’s shot.  That has to really really hurt.  I hope he isn’t really hurt. 

Is it me or has the pace of this game really picked up?

Neal is back on the ice?  Ok, he is trying for Warrior Status.

Jokinen is in the box.  I’m sorry I still am very uncomfortable with Ribs on the Power Play.  And we get no where. 

Well, gees, I thought they had a chance with this one.  I just hope Nealer isn’t hurt. 

Post Game:

Fabian interview:  It’s okay, Fabian, we don’t understand Ric Renner’s questions either. 

We have tickets for the Blues game on Saturday so we won’t be around for the game.  I’ll leave a thread open just in case someone wants to use it.  Feel free.