OT: Play-Off Hockey & CAPS photo

Best time of year! I'll be rooting for the Caps tonight against those evil Phlyers!

Funny thing about the Tim Russert bit. He's from Buffalo and has been a Sabres fan forever, but he's said in the past that his kids are Caps fans. Nice that he gave 'em a plug on the show.

GO HABS, but I'll be rooting for the Caps tonight!

Nyssa, who wishes she could be at the game too

We'll wave. It should be something - the game on Saturday was an unbelievable atmosphere - better than the Cup Finals in '98. Really.

Ellice

Not sure who we'll be rooting for in the next round. Depends on who plays the Rangers next.

I'll retain a soft spot for the Caps even if they are matched against the Rangers. Huet is such a nice guy!

Root for the Pens!!!

I had hoped the Pens would play the Caps. Sorry Ellice, it would have been nice to match Sidney and Geno against Alex. Instead it's Jagr and the Rangers. I expect to hear lots of booing when Jagr touches the puck. I just hope they don't come out stale after the long layoff.

Nancy, mostly a lurker in Pittsburgh

I'm rooting for the Rangers.

Me too.

-Margaret

Thanks for the "sorry" - we're getting over our mourning period. We'll root for the Pens - HATE the Rangers. HATE Jagr - whom I used to appreciate for his skill, but the person is such a horror as a moody, selfish, no pride player that I can't deal. The only player - besides Claude Lemieux - that I 'll ever boo.

Pens v Caps would've been sweet - but the CAPS are very beat up. One of the young d-men, Shaone Morrison, has been playing with a broken jaw (not reported), Mike Green - league leading scoring D - has a hip pointer the last couple of games, Boyd Gordon has a partially torn hamstring, and Ovie has been playing with a not insignificant injury - that will be getting surgery as we understand it - for the last month. We're sad, but think also that Brian Pothier - nice guy from Mass may be totally done - he's been out due to concussion for 6 months. So, all that goes to I don't think I could've stood a sweep by the Pens - it would've been horrible for their mental state. OTOH, we're loving Brookes Laich, nice young one from Regina - more and more - extremely articulate - and says smart things, and plays hard all the time.

Tomorrow - the local USAHockey ref association monthly meeting. I think there'll be much talk of judgement, consistency, and changing the "bar" in a game - as evidenced last night when the officiating was sooooo inconsistent.

Oh, well - we'll root for the Pens - but really, we're hoping for Les Habs....as a thank you for Cristobal Huet coming to us.

Ellice - who went to grad school in Pgh

But Sean Avery is a nice guy off ice - go figure.

Pothier is that hurt - dang - he's almost a local boy. Hope they all heal well.

Poor reffing - never (sarcasm font on)

DS likes the Habs too.

x =EF=BF=BD- that

I've hated the Rangers ever since 92 when Adam Graves broke Mario's hand. I realize it's all new players....but.... As for Jagr, I agree with your assesment. Funny thing, we learned he still owns a house here and is renting it to Peter Sykora.

Inconsistent officiating....oh yeah the norm this year.

It would be nice to have a Pens- Habs Conference final. Pens hadn't beaten a Canadian team in the playoffs until this year.

Nancy in Pgh

On 4/24/08 6:33 AM, "Cheryl Isaak" wrote:

Honestly, we know plenty of hockey guys that are asses on the ice, and fine off it. Some that are asses all the time. And some that are great on the ice, and idiots off, some that are just exemplary all the time. Just like regular folks. But, people like Claude Lemieux - there are reasons that they don't get handshakes - they have crossed the line into bad sportsmanship, bad personal behaviour beyond just "playing hard" - and Sean Avery has set himself up as a disrespectful clown on the ice.

I believe you. But, Jagr is definitely a strange and quirky guy. Years ago in Pgh he dated an "older" woman acquaintance (friend of friend). Then, when he was here, we met Miss Czechoslovakia - who was stunning and quite nice, along with a couple of his home boys that were staying with him. But, JJ himself - very much moody, to the point of rude when around the "little people" . Robert Laing, OTOH - a fabulous, nice guy - lovely wife - great to hang out with. We had one infamous night, post-game, we were in the "players" elevator going down to the parking lot, and somehow it went up then down -opening by the locker rooms again - Robert steps in and asks us to hold it. Another couple is with us - that Robert doesn't know very well, but still - then he leans out - kind of emphatically yelling something in Czech - we look - and it's JJ in the hall - Robert telling him in both languages to get in the elevator, JJ saying no - our friend and says to JJ who is now standing in front and staring at the elevator occupants "it's okay we won't bite, come on" - finally Robert apologizing to us & our friends, then steps back as JJ has headed away. We go down - and are in the lot "cage" where the player, etc cars are parked. As we're talking before splitting to our cars - elevator opens again - and out come Robert & JJ. So, we all but JJ burst out laughing, making some crack about being stuck with us - in a nice way. Say good-night, Robert waves, returns the have a good one, and they go off. Mostly, us still paying Jagr's salary, and his refusal to actual make much, if any effort, after signing his gi-normous contract here have soured us completely.

Yup, with him and one of the other CAPS d-men - they evidently played together on some select kind of teams as kids - one from Bedford, one from Worcester. At the least, they'd been seeing each other across the ice from about age 6! We like him very much, but it's not looking so good. And who knows with Chris Clark - who is from Conn - he's been out with this horrid groin injury for months.

Weeeeelll - you are a hockey parent, after all - and IME - it's best for us officials to about never sit with parents during a game. That said, the officiating in this series, with the exception of one of the games - has been pretty bad - in professional terms - as inconsistent. In hockey, the players as they go up the experience chain, learn to pay attention to the refs level of calls early in the game. It's what we call the ref "setting the bar" - and if a game is full of wild stuff, a lot may be called early to get people settled down to play - but usually once the bar is set, it stays about the same - depending on circumstances. Game is about the game,not the officials. It takes a lot of communication - good officials are talking all the time on the ice, maybe subtly, but it's happening. Good officials also have their heads up, "on a swivel" and work as a team, know their positioning mechanics. Sadly, in this game, one of the refs was woefully out of position, which caused collisions and broken plays for both teams. Same guy didn't see a puck hit right over my head in the net - which everyone else saw, even the TV guys were making remarks at the no whistle - as play went all the way down the other way. One of the linesman was also having a bad day - several missed offsides, missed icinggs - inconsistent wave-offs, and then tripped Ovechkin. When I eval refs, especially linesman

- there's rarely, rarely, any excuse for not making an off-sides call. We know the back-up crew, and have no doubt a few words were exchanged in the dressing room between periods. The big note is that the players themselves aren't whining about the officiating, nor too much are the "knowledgable" fans - a term I use carefully. But, there is the note that it's sad to lose based on poor officiating which likely did contribute. Just losing on a better play - OK.

The saddest thing, the plastic bottles of beer, coke, etc thrown on the ice. It embarrassed the players, and us. However, in an arena that is SRO, when there are really about 10,000 johnny-come-lately folks there - it's not a surprise. That's never happened before, and was a real shock. We weren't thrilled with our mini-water & coke shower!

Oh - we found a lovely pix of us on the Phlyers website photo gallery from the last game. My hair looks to be about the same color as our red shirts! I'm in profile.

Well, we'd be happy to see a Canadian team with the Cup. We're tired of the Avs, Detroit & Dallas.

So, on to the next round. And I still have to go work on my crewel.

Ellice

Habs fan here. Hate the Rags, but hate the Phlyers even more. I'll root for the Pens in their series with no qualms.

The Avs-Wings series should be a classic. Those two teams always notch it up for each other. I adore Joe Sakic, but have to go with the Red Wings down the long stretch. In the Stars-Sharks series, either team is fine with me. Good players on both teams and should make a dandy contest.

So I'll go with the Habs in the East and the Red Wings in the West, then the Habs for the Cup. 'Bout time a Canadian team wins the silver again.

Now on to a few comments...

Robert Lang - LOVE him! I was stunned when the Wings decided not to make him an offer, but was thrilled that he's a leader in the rebuilding of the poor Black Hawks.

Sean Avery - He may be in line for sainthood off the ice, but on the ice he's a menace who goes beyond the bounds of good sportsmanship. I don't blame Brodeur for the snub in the handshake line.

Cristobal Huet - I was amazed when the Habs traded him at the deadline. Putting all the eggs in the Price basket is a dangerous move. But I'm glad the guy has bounced back and showed his stuff with the Caps. Looks to be a good move for both.

Officiating - I agree that consistency is important especially at the pro ranks and doubly so in the playoffs. At least the NHL drops officials at each round of the playoffs and keeps only the top ranked for the later rounds and games. I predict we will again see McCreary in the finals. lol

As for the many Caps injuries, I hope all will heal and come back to play next season for another run. Especially Pothier since I followed him when he was on the Sens and liked what I saw.

Okay, back to stitching now.

Nyssa, who hasn't forgotten that she owes Cheryl that hockey chart and has it well up on her to-do list At River's End

On 4/24/08 11:07 AM, in article fuq7l5$ef7$ snipped-for-privacy@aioe.org, "Nyssa" wrote: More snipping

Take your time dear...garden season has started and some days my hands don't get clean enough for stitching... C