NHL 2008 - 2009

[DSJ™]

Oilers suck & MacTavish blows as a coach! Edmonton appears to be heading out of the playoff picture for a 3rd straight campaign. 

Foooooooooooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! 

[stormie]

Dale, if it's any consolation, I watched the game last night and Edmonton should've won. Pucks were ringing off the Shark's bar so often it sounded like a casino. The Oilers did everything right last night, but sometimes even that doesn't mean a win or point.

[Paul]

Oilers suck & MacTavish blows as a coach! Edmonton appears to be heading out of the playoff picture for a 3rd straight campaign. 

Foooooooooooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! 

Perhaps they could play the Stars in some sort of Stanley Cup of Golf....

[Ryan]

Oilers suck & MacTavish blows as a coach! Edmonton appears to be heading out of the playoff picture for a 3rd straight campaign. 

Foooooooooooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! 

At least they aren't playing for the first overall pick at this point...

[DSJ™]

Oilers are done for a 3rd straight season... bunch of ******* numpty's! 

Foooooooooooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! 

[Jesse James]

Numpty's?  Hahahaha   

Pens locked their playoff spot last night against the Lightning but they let the Lightning back into it after a 4-0 lead.  Ugh.

Either way Malkin built a couple points onto his lead.  Ovechkin got really close, so Malkin needs to step that **** up.

Crosby had 2 PP goals, very nice...  His breakaway was a highlight reel goal.

[Ryan]

The regular season is now officially over. Playoff predictions anyone?

1st Round:

  West:
 
    San Jose over Anaheim in 6
    Detroit over Columbus in 5
    Vancouver over St. Louis in 6
    Calgary over Chicago in 5

  East:

    Boston over Montreal in 4
    Washington over New York in 5
    New Jersey over Carolina in 5
    Philadelphia over Pittsburgh in 7 (Sorry Jesse)

2nd Round

  West:

    San Jose over Calgary in 6
    Vancouver over Detroit in 7

  East:

    Boston over Philadelphia in 6
    Washington over New Jersey in 5

Conference Finals:

  West:

    Vancouver over San Jose in 6

  East:

    Washington over Boston in 5

Stanley Cup Finals

    Vancouver over Washington in 6



It is really weird thinking the playoffs are coming up and the Avs aren't going to be in them. I don't even get Vs. on DirectTV so I won't get to watch much playoff hockey this year.

I'll bet Jesse is looking forward to that first round matchup. That should be a really good series.

[Jesse James]

I think the PEnguins can tear up anyone, but Philly obviously gets lots of attention.  Honestly our biggest rivals are Washington, but I was in many heated debates with Philly kids at both PSU and other more local campuses I hung out at and played hockey at in my younger days.

I used to play in a league near a college fairly close to where I live, lots of Philly kids there including a couple teams of almost all Philly kids, and those games always got fun right around this time of year. 

I bet Cable can't control the PSWCS right now!

[stormie]

I'm really looking forward to the playoffs, and as always, hoping/praying for the best for the Sharks.

Here's my biased prediction:

First Round

Boston over Montreal
Washington over Rangers
Carolina over Devils
Philadelphia over Pens

Sharks over Ducks
Columbus over Wings
Blues over Vancouver
Chicago over Calgary

Second round

Carolina over Boston
Washington over Philadelphia

San Jose over Columbus
Chicago over Blues

Conference Finals

Washington over Carolina

San Jose over Chicago

Cup Finals

San Jose over Washington

[Jeff]

I'll join Dale and Ryan on the "my team sucks" bench...

- No playoffs
- Lemaire is gone
- Gaborik is almost definitely gone

Not only did the season end on a sour note, but thanks to the last two reasons listed above, we're probably going to suck again next year.  I suppose there is always a chance we could spend the Gabby money on 1-2 guys who can score instead, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Ryan]

I'll join Dale and Ryan on the "my team sucks" bench...

What a great showing from the Northwest teams this year, eh?

[DSJ™]

I'll join Dale and Ryan on the "my team sucks" bench...

What a great showing from the Northwest teams this year, eh?

Ahh yeah. 

[DSJ™]

Oilers suck & MacTavish blows as a coach! 

Oiler coach Craig MacTavish fired after team fails to make NHL playoffs

Craig MacTavish is no longer the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers.

Today Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini announced MacTavish had been relieved of his coaching duties after nine seasons behind the bench.

He had one year left on his contract.

[Paul]

I don't care that I don't have a Team in the Cup Playoffs.... this is one of my favorite times of year.  At least 2 games a night (it was so much better when ESPN had the NHL and I could watch every game).

Versus is in HD now on my Verizon Fios so that was good. 

JJ has to be happy to see that much scoring in the first game.

[Jesse James]

I'm ecstatic but it's early...  **** the Flyers though.  They played like a bunch of goons tonight and lost like they deserved.  I thought I was watching the Chiefs there for a little while.    All the slashing going on, and nothing like sticking the knees out to try and end some careers.  What a disgrace on ice tonight.  Even the local announcers started bitching about it and they never really complain or cite intentional efforts to hurt people often, but boy they sure did tonight.

Our game was a sell out again of course, but outside they put up a big screen and in the 40 (and dropping) degree weather several thousand people went to sit in lawn chairs and watch.  One guy brought an old 50's style hand-crank air raid siren to grind when we scored...  Classic.

Gotta love it...  Hockey in Pittsburgh at this time of year is a great thing.

"It's a great day for hockey!" - "Badger" Bob Johnson