The 2007 NHL Playoffs Thread

[piperclap]

Originally Posted by duff88

For anyone who's team is eliminated and have nothing to look forward to, I made this:

2007 NHL Draft Top 100 - Profiles - Stats - Reports

Wow-wasn't Esposito touted as the cream of the crop back in his 15/16 years? The top is OK, but the guys ike Gagner and Coutoure look good too.

Mr prediction-the Coyotes draft Jim O'Brien and continue their habit of stretching of Minnesota college players in the first. I'm the biggest backer of the Gophs around, but man, did he stretch on Wheeler-who's just now looking like he's worth it.

[piperclap]

Originally Posted by Kekkonen

Well, well. Now did the Moen - Påhlsson - Niedermeyer line do a job on Spezza & co or what?

I officially change my stance from before-I hate the west coast teams. Mostly, I hate Pronger.

[Long_Long_Name]

Originally Posted by piperclap

Wow-wasn't Esposito touted as the cream of the crop back in his 15/16 years? The top is OK, but the guys ike Gagner and Coutoure look good too.

Yeah, he had a bad season. It's harder without Radulov at your side, eh?

We keep hearing, in Montréal media, about how the Habs should absolutely select him if they get the chance. Some nationalist fans don't like too many Russians on the team, they want good old Québecers. I'm not of them, but you know.

[canadiancreed]

Originally Posted by Long_Long_Name

Yeah, he had a bad season. It's harder without Radulov at your side, eh?

We keep hearing, in Montréal media, about how the Habs should absolutely select him if they get the chance. Some nationalist fans don't like too many Russians on the team, they want good old Québecers. I'm not of them, but you know.

Ya I've heard that over the years. Too bad the nationalists dont' realise is that that kind of tunnel vision usually get's you the teams that we had in thelate 90's. Hopefully Gainey and crew dont' come down with that affliction.

And you know it's depressing when the only cheers you can hear from the houses around you is when the Ducks score. I never thought I'd ever hear more support for an American team then a Canadian one. I'm looking for a word for it, but only pathetic comes to mind.

[Muppetus Galacticus]

Originally Posted by canadiancreed

And you know it's depressing when the only cheers you can hear from the houses around you is when the Ducks score. I never thought I'd ever hear more support for an American team then a Canadian one. I'm looking for a word for it, but only pathetic comes to mind.

So if it was the Leafs in the final then you would not be happy when the Ducks beat them?

[Elendil]

I'll never understand why some people want to inject nationalism into sports, whether it be Quebecois nationalism or Creed's Canadian nationalism (or American nationalism for that matter - some Americans insisted on rooting against the Blue Jays when they won the World Series, didn't understand that either).

[canadiancreed]

Originally Posted by Muppetus Galacticus

So if it was the Leafs in the final then you would not be happy when the Ducks beat them?

You know I was thikning about that todday. On one hand it'd be good to have them there, but on the other hand they'd never shut up about it for the next fifty years.

I guess we'll see when/if it happens I suppose.

Originally Posted by Elendil

I'll never understand why some people want to inject nationalism into sports, whether it be Quebecois nationalism or Creed's Canadian nationalism (or American nationalism for that matter - some Americans insisted on rooting against the Blue Jays when they won the World Series, didn't understand that either).

Maybe it's a colloration between sports and culture. For some baseball is America's game and having a non-American team is verboten. For myself the last decade or so and it's effects on Canadian teams and the sport have I guess installed a sense of nationalist pride when one of ours gets to the finals...mainly because until recently it was a damn miracle when we did. The same thing happened with the Flames and Oilers beforehand; you'd have folks here rooting for them to beat Carolina and Tampa Bay respectively.

Then again as you state, I'm one of the very few that probably does the nationalism thing with anything. Whether it's for the best or not remains to be seen.

[Long_Long_Name]

Originally Posted by Elendil

I'll never understand why some people want to inject nationalism into sports, whether it be Quebecois nationalism or Creed's Canadian nationalism (or American nationalism for that matter - some Americans insisted on rooting against the Blue Jays when they won the World Series, didn't understand that either).

Well, the reasoning of many Québecers (including high-profile personalities like Réjean Tremblay and Michel Bergeron) is that at equal talent, a Québecer will be the best bet for the Canadien because he'll have some extra pride to play for his hometown team. They have no problem with foreign players (except those "lazy" Russians like kovalev and Samsonov), but they think that the Canadien should try and get Québecers first and foremost, especially at equal talent. It's true that with the only Québecers on the team being Lapierre, Latendresse, Bouillon, Dandenault and Bégin, some Québecers have trouble identifying with the team. When the team last won the Stanley Cup, it was with Carbonneau, Denis Savard, Roy, Damphousse, Desjardins, etc. The 80's team featured Roy, Carbonneau, Lemieux, Lafleur, etc. The 70's had Lafleur, Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe, Dickie Moore, etc.

I don't have a problem with, at equal value, factoring in the player's origin when selecting him, not on the basis of nationalism, but on the basis that hometown players might generate more interest in the community. Where I draw the line is when it becomes fallacious. One of the big problems a lot of fans have with the Habs is that they let one of the best Québec players in the NHL, Simon Gagné, pass by when they had the chance to select him. How dare they NOT pick this amazing Québecer? The only thing is that many of them seem to forget that instead, the Habs picked Éric Chouinard, not exactly an Eastern European (hi treedom!). Then there are idiotic pundits like Stéphane Laporte who claims that the main reason the Habs didn't make the playoffs is because they sent Maxim Lapierre down to the minors for 2 weeks around Christmas (I wish I was kidding, or exagerrating, but.... sadly not).

Thankfully, there are some influent people who seem to think like me. Mathias Brunet, one of the better journalists on the NHL beat, once wrote an article asking how we'd react if an Alberta paper came out with an article saying that Québecers are lazy, that they don't really want to play, that they just want to go back home - his theory is that we'd call them racist... even though we do the same with Russians.

Finally, I've brought this up before, but the last Canadien head coach who was not either a Montréaler nor a Francophone and lasted more than six months was Toe Blake, who started coaching the team in... 1955.

[piperclap]

Plus, isn't Quebec an unique situation, what with the seperatist movement and all? I mean, I can definately understand how they'd love to win with Quebec boys. You see the same thing with Chivas in Mexico, who for a long time only used Mexican players, and more recently (and closely related) with the University of Minnesota hockey team-it was almost sacriledge when Grant Potulny came to the team from...North Dakota! But, then he scored a few key goals and all was forgiven. Minnesota fans take a lot of pride in the fact that its OUR boys beating everyone else, and I could understand how it'd be the same in Quebec. I mean, I love it every time the Wild get ahold of a Mark Parrish (Even if he did play at St. Cloud, that rat bastard) or a Darby Hendrickson. I mean, if John Pohl got traded to the Wild, he'd be the most famous 3/4th line player in all of the NHL thanks to his High School and College exploits.

[Bluenoser]

I think the Habs should trade for Shane Doan - then you'd hear the Quebecois yelling all the way out in BC.


As for the Leafs winning the Cup.......here's a little truism for you.

Fact - The Leafs haven't won the Cup in 40 years.

Fact - General Hillier brought the Stanley Cup to Afghanistan to boost the troops moral.


Conclusion - The Taliban are closer to capturing the Stanley Cup than the Leafs are.

[Elendil]

Well, I do understand about wanting players from your own community; it's great to hear that players want to play for your team. I think many Astros fans like Lance Berkman more because he says he never wants to play outside Texas.

So I get that; I guess I just don't identify the nation-state with a rooting interest. Heck, I don't really get into national medal counts at the Olympics either. Maybe I'm odd, or maybe this is more of an American perspective (Canadians are more patriotic than Americans, as evidenced by national anthem singing anyway, probably because they want to emphasize their distinctiveness vis-a-vis the United States).

[Long_Long_Name]

Originally Posted by Elendil

Well, I do understand about wanting players from your own community; it's great to hear that players want to play for your team. I think many Astros fans like Lance Berkman more because he says he never wants to play outside Texas.

So I get that; I guess I just don't identify the nation-state with a rooting interest. Heck, I don't really get into national medal counts at the Olympics either. Maybe I'm odd, or maybe this is more of an American perspective (Canadians are more patriotic than Americans, as evidenced by national anthem singing anyway, probably because they want to emphasize their distinctiveness vis-a-vis the United States).

I'm not sure about patriotism being stronger in Canada than in the united States. I agree with you though - I don't feel any kind of emotional link to Joe Sakic of British Columbia because he's my Canadian brother.

However, there are some odd bits of partisanship. The Memorial Cup just ended, and the Q was represented by an American team, the Lewiston MAINEiacs (what a horrible, horrible name, by the way). Still, Québec journalists followed and supported the MAINEiacs, despite two Canadian teams, Vancouver and Medecine Hat, being in the running.

[darkenigma510]

Its similar to how Dennis Boucher was loved in Montreal when he was an Expo, despitr being very avarage, versus Larry Walker, a BC boy, who was popular but never embraced like a son like Boucher was.

[boilermaker]

[Long_Long_Name]

Originally Posted by darkenigma510

Its similar to how Dennis Boucher was loved in Montreal when he was an Expo, despitr being very avarage, versus Larry Walker, a BC boy, who was popular but never embraced like a son like Boucher was.

Also, the player who gets the most airtime on RDS, other than maybe Bonds, is Russell Martin.

[Kekkonen]

Another one-goal win for the Ducks, but I think a lot has to change if the Sens want to win 4 of the next 5. 5-on-5, the CASH line is no match for Moen - Påhlsson - Niedermeyer.

[canadiancreed]

Ya that was a poor performance all around for Ottawa. It's liek the team that was breezing through the East took a holiday.

[Kekkonen]

Originally Posted by canadiancreed

Ya that was a poor performance all around for Ottawa. It's liek the team that was breezing through the East took a holiday.

Or alternatively, they ran into a big tough team and suddenly were at a loss. The closest thing to a big tough team they've faced so far are probably the Devils, and they're nowhere near as good (or as big or as tough) as the Ducks. It just seemed to me like the Sens didn't have an answer to the Ducks' forecheck and hitting.

[canadiancreed]

Originally Posted by Kekkonen

Or alternatively, they ran into a big tough team and suddenly were at a loss. The closest thing to a big tough team they've faced so far are probably the Devils, and they're nowhere near as good (or as big or as tough) as the Ducks. It just seemed to me like the Sens didn't have an answer to the Ducks' forecheck and hitting.

Funny, I was thinking that the Ducks havent' really had much of a challange until now and Ottawa's come out flat.

GUess we'll see what happens.

[Kekkonen]

Some bad news for Sens fans: teams that go up 2-0 at home are 30-1 in the Stanley Cup finals (according to this table).

Then again, as they say in investment commercials, past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.