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[White Manju Bun]

DAN CLEARY I LOVE YOU!!

I was worried, I was, epsc after game 6, I thought we need to pound these guys. Game started off good, 2 goals nice breakaway for Helm but then the Ducks game back. I was hoping the Ducks would take a page from the Caps and just not show up but praise kami for Cleary and ugly goals! Time for the Hawks which should be interesting.

[Spectacular_Insanity]

Red Wings won. Dan Cleary clinched it at the 4 minute mark (about, maybe closer to 3 minutes, it doesn't really matter).

So... I agree with White Manju Bun completely.

I'm a die-hard Red Wings fan. Nice to see other Red Wings fans too!

However, I do have to say that the Ducks were awesome as well. I was on the edge of my seat the entire game, gnawing my fingers to nothing. It was really tight at 3-3 in the 3rd period, but Detroit won in the end. I noticced the Ducks even cleared their goal at the very end, but Detroit persevered.

I do feel kind of bad for Hiller, though. Pushing that puck in the goal accidentally has really got to weigh on him. He lost the season for his team. A real shame, but I'm sure he'll get over it. Eventually.

I also can't wait til the next game against the Hawks begins. GO RED WINGS!

[Dilla]

Canes avoid the collaspe. Thank goodness!

[The Guy Named Zeo]

White Manju Bun your not the only one that loves him, such a good NFLD boy he is. Gotta say that Helms breakaway was awesome. So now that the Duck Hunt has ended in success, time for the Hawks. Draper played tonight instead of Maltby, and it was good of Babs to keep Gator in the lineup for his second playoff game. So I'm thinking Lenio may be in for the next round, or maybe keep Gator in the lineup instead.

Well the Cardiac Canes have done it again, home ice isn't going to be an advantage for the Pens, it didn't help the Devils or the Bruins. So yeah I can see a rematch of 2002 SCF happening this year, but a rematch of last year wouldn't be bad either as long as the results are the same.

So the Conference Finals will be:
In the East:
(6) Carolina Hurricanes vs (4) Pittsburgh Penguins (Canes in 7 again)
In the West:
(4) Chicago Black Hawks vs (2) Detroit Red Wings (Wings in 6)
Finally an Original 6 match-up too bad it's not the Stanley Cup Finals

Helm now holds the record for most playoff goals (4) with no regular season goals.
I just realized that this was the last game 7 at the Joe in 7 years, 7 goals was scored in this game 7 and the game 7 that was 7 years ago was a 7-0 win for the Wings against the Avalanche. That's a lot of sevens.

[Zippicus]

The game officials need to stop being retarded. I don't know if it's orders from above or what but quite a few of these playoff games have been the victim of "unusual" refereeing. I'm fine with however they want the games to be played, but there's no consistency with what's being called or not (more than the usual differences between different refs). And for the love of god just drop the stupid puck for faceoffs, watching the linesman jerk everyone around is getting annoying. I normally don't have much of a problem with the refs but this post season they're worse than usual.

And holy crap I was on the verge of a heart attack through most of the Wings x Ducks game 7.

[Karlson]

Unfortunately I missed the ducks/wings game yesterday, and most of the bruins/canes game as well but at least I caught overtime for the latter. I'm not surprised Carolina won that game judging by what I saw in that overtime. Boston wasnt without its chances to put away the series for good, but the Canes were quite a bit more aggressive and got quite alot more scoring chances as a result. Only reason I had doubts the Canes were gonna pull through was when Rod Brind'Amour took that puck to his face which took him out of the game. He is a very reliable centerman for that team when it comes to winning those key faceoffs. Hopefully he's back and ready to go come their series with the Penguins.

So I'm predicting Canes in 7 for the Pens/Canes series. I was foolish to think the Bruins could stop them when they toppled Brodeur himself in the previous series. Never again

Oh and Wings in 7 for the Hawks/Wings series. I might be alittle generous here to Chicago since they took out my team, but for an inexperienced young squad they have been on one hell of a roll. The bulin wall will have to step up his game tho because at the very least the defensive minded Canucks proved he had cracks and that they can be exploited. If he doesnt tho I wont be surprised if Detroit finishes them in 6 as well

[White Manju Bun]

Originally Posted by Spectacular_Insanity

I'm a die-hard Red Wings fan. Nice to see other Red Wings fans too!

Yes more Wings fans!

Originally Posted by Zippicus

And holy crap I was on the verge of a heart attack through most of the Wings x Ducks game 7.

I couldnt even watch the 3rd period, we went to get food during the 2nd intermission and when we turned it back on the Ducks had tied it. I decided I wasnt gonna watch so I dyed my hair instead When I heard my hubby scream from the room, I knew we had scored XD After that I watched cept for the last 6 secs I think that game took years off my life.

Canes/Bruins OT was crazy. B's had so many chances but Ward was on his game. I had a feeling that the Canes would win, it seems when one team has a ton of chances (epsc in OT) and doesn't score the other teams wins on some random play/goal and the Cane's did. Was it me or did Thomas try to play that rebound?

Originally Posted by The Guy Named Zeo

Helm now holds the record for most playoff goals (4) with no regular season goals.

Ill be totally happy if Helm never scores in the regular season only to score like this in the playoffs

I just realized that this was the last game 7 at the Joe in 7 years, 7 goals was scored in this game 7 and the game 7 that was 7 years ago was a 7-0 win for the Wings against the Avalanche. That's a lot of sevens.

I remember that game, I loved killing the Avs I remember Ken Daniels saying in Game 6 that the JLA fan's hadnt seen a handshake since 02 finals when the Wings won it all, every game since then theyd either wrapped up the series on the road or lost at home. As one of the announcers said during the Caps/Pens OT game 6, streaks are meant to be broken. After we lost game 6 I thought, the handshake streak will end, Wings will win game 7! Stupid logic but it works for me

[The Guy Named Zeo]

I'm so glad that we were able to win in OT and take a 2-0 series lead in the series against the Hawks. Cleary already has 3 goals in this series, and 4 goals in 3 games. Pens are up 1-0 against the Canes, but the Canes will probably take game 2 if they play like they did in the 3rd period. Fleury saved the Pens in that game as the Canes really pressed to tie that game up. I'm still thinking that it will be a 2002 SCF rematch with the Wings winning.

My grammer seems to be good for having booze in my system, maybe I'm just to happy, but I'm the kinda guy that believes that every good Canadian needs to watch at least one hockey game when they are not sober.

[Spectacular_Insanity]

Ditto. That was a good win. I watched it during dinner. Cleary is now my third favorite Red Wing right now, right behind Lindstrom and Osgood.

[White Manju Bun]

Gah that whole ordeal that led up to the goal, wow! I mean Osgood had the puck pretty much drop right infront of him and good clear and BOOM off to the races!! It was fun watching all of JLA stand as they skated down the ice. That was a highlight goal for all!

[Karlson]

Originally Posted by The Guy Named Zeo

My grammer seems to be good for having booze in my system, maybe I'm just to happy, but I'm the kinda guy that believes that every good Canadian needs to watch at least one hockey game when they are not sober.

See I would agree with you there but me and alcohol just dont mix unless its only a pint or 2

[White Manju Bun]

Well after a so-so game 3 the Wings appear to have their game back in 4. Its 5-1 and there is still a period left

[The Guy Named Zeo]

That was a good win, a 6-1 pounding of the Hawks who thought that the Wings without Lidstrom, Datsyuk, and Draper would probably be an easy win for them. Looks like he Wings proved them wrong. Hossa woke up for this game, and Filpula got his first goal of these playoffs. Ozzy leaving the game made me think of two things to why he didn't play in the third and Howard became the backup. One Ozzy got the third off because Babcock didn't want him to get injured and to rest him for game 4, or due to Ozzy talking to the trainer after the end of the 2d period he maybe hurt in some way. If he's hurt I hope it's nothing serious, but I doubt he's hurt.


On a different note: The Windsor Spitfires can be the first team to lose their first two games of the Memorial Cup round robin and go on to win the memorial cup. It's 4-1 for them going into the third against the Kelowna Rockets.

Edit: Quick postgame update from Mike Babcock's press conference: He said the team hopes to get both Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk back for Game 5 Wednesday. He said goaltender Chris Osgood was just dehydrated, that's why he didn't play the third period. So he is fine.

Edit2: Widsor has won the Memorial Cup for the first time, and they made history by winning the Tournament after losing the first 2 games of the round robin, they won by a score of 4-1. They were the favorites coming into the Memorial Cup.

[The Guy Named Zeo]

Well it's a rematch of 2008, and my man crush has grown to include Darren Helm, what a goal to send us back to the finals. So many good chances for both teams. That game was very exciting to me. That's two series in a row closed out at home, lets make it three in a row. No Lidstrom, no Datsyuk, no Draper, no Ericsson, no problem. They will be back for the finals which is a good thing for us.

[Karlson]

While I do frown upon rematches at least the Pens and Wings draw a big crowd of viewers (hardcore and casual fans alike) which means higher TV ratings which is what the NHL needs

[White Manju Bun]

Man game 1 of this final has been alot different then game 1 of last year. Pens definitely coming on stronger, more hits. That first goal was such a fluke but Im not complaining! Hold on Wings one more period to go!

[Zippicus]

Well it looks like it took till the final round for the refs to stop being retarded, if they would just ease up on the face-offs a little it would be perfect. There weren't any real weak calls and it's nice to see them let them play. Hopefully that will continue throughout the series.

This looks like it's going to be a great series. IMO Pittsburgh should have probably won tonight (I'm glad they didn't, but that's beside the point) but hey luck is part of winning too so I'll be happy to go with the flow.

[The Guy Named Zeo]

The refs were very good tonight and two of the Wings goals were lucky goals, but Justin Abdelkader with the third goal was just awesome. Not the greatest game by the Wings, but I'll take a win over a loss any day. I do believe that Osgood and Helm were big reasons that we won that game. Helm had 8 hits in that game, and Wings won 39 of 56 faceoffs which is a dominate 71%.

A complete event summary for game 1 is here

And to be lucky you have to be good.

[White Manju Bun]

Ok thank gawd the Wings decided to actually play in game 5. THIS IS HOW WE NEED TO PLAY EVERY NIGHT! I was worried after the abomination that were games 3 and 4. Here's only hoping we can play like we did last night in Game 6 and win this baby!!

[Quzor]

Originally Posted by White Manju Bun

Ok thank gawd the Wings decided to actually play in game 5. THIS IS HOW WE NEED TO PLAY EVERY NIGHT! I was worried after the abomination that were games 3 and 4. Here's only hoping we can play like we did last night in Game 6 and win this baby!!

QFT!!

Seriously though, game 4 was just a complete shambles. I couldn't help but feel like, throughout the entire game, I was watching a pee-wee hockey game. The wings were trying to pass through closed down lanes, playing crappy dump-and-run offense, turning the puck over in the defensive zone, and a slew of other problems. Then, we come to game 5, and it's like a completely different team. Clean passing, lots of shots going at the net, very few turnovers, and all those other good things.

Lets see what the Wings can do tonight. Hopefully they'll make another good showing, and we can hoist that cup once again this year. I would have liked to see them win at home, but Stanley is Stanley, no matter where you win it.