Rite of Spring 2019: The Chase for the Stanley Cup

[-kj]

Heading to game 7 overtime in St. Louis.  It's a nice switch from what the Blues usually do in game 7s, but I'm still nervous about it.

[habsfan1]

This game is crazy.

 

Again, everything will be decided in a final OT. First to screw up first loses the series.

[AustinFromBoston]

Stars have no business being in this game. 

Bishop is going to need a wheelchair after carrying the team tonight. 

[The_Admiral]

On 5/6/2019 at 9:48 PM, McCarthy said:

And now a bunch of spoiled brats in Boston are gonna get their third championship in 8 months. Sports are awful. 

The spoiled brats in the East final aren't the ones in Boston

[rainmaker17]

Dallas finally shows up after regulation.

[DTConcepts]

*ahem*

 

PLAY GLORIA

[lordsketor]

Meet me in St. Louis in the Western Conference Final.

[habsfan1]

Radulov eliminated.

[AustinFromBoston]

Was really hoping Dallas could pull it off, but I knew it was just a mater of time until Bishop cracked. Goalies can't score after all. 

 

I'm now 100% certain we're getting a 2016 WCF rematch between the Blues & Shark. The 1 matchup i did not want. 

[rams80]

The Blues apparently can only die in 6.

[FiddySicks]

Cool. Blues vs Avs it is. That’ll be great for middle America, I guess. 

[rainmaker17]

Right.  Cause if it's not California...who cares.

[The Six]

Hopefully the Blues can come through and win it all this year. It'd be great to see that franchise finally win one, and the city of St. Louis deserves a Cup.

[Cosmic]

Go Team Western Conference!

[Sport]

9 hours ago, the admiral said:

The spoiled brats in the East final aren't the ones in Boston

 

I don't like the Hurricanes either, but Boston winning something AGAIN is tougher for me to stomach than some overly-sensitive fans in Raleigh. 

 

Even if you ignore all of Boston's other sports success, they have a more recent cup and Carolina missed the playoffs for the last 10 years. That's just math. 

 

And they're still never happy. 2011 might as well be 1972 for these people. Take Tuukka Rask. Good to great goaltender, every team in the league would love to have him, just won a series, has won a lot of series, will win the cup this year, would be a legend in a place like Columbus. Boston fans, though, have spent the past 10 years bitching about this guy because, I don't know, he hasn't won them the cup every single year? They're enormous babies. 

 

Begrudgingly, give me Raleigh. At least they'll actually appreciate it. And as always better them than the worst people alive in Pittsburgh. 

[Glover]

Ah yes. Those spoiled Hurricanes and their spoiled fans. Quite the embarrassment of riches that franchise has accumulated over the last decade.

[speedy]

45 minutes ago, McCarthy said:

And they're still never happy. 2011 might as well be 1972 for these people. Take Tuukka Rask. Good to great goaltender, every team in the league would love to have him, just won a series, has won a lot of series, will win the cup this year, would be a legend in a place like Columbus. Boston fans, though, have spent the past 10 years bitching about this guy because, I don't know, he hasn't won them the cup every single year? They're enormous babies. 

 

You know, usually I'm on board with your posts and greatly respect what you typically do post. However, I also think @Brass and I, and others on this board (save for one or two) have acted accordingly. The only one that sounds like a baby is you and your previous few post-loss posts. We get it, you hate Boston, you think we're all a-holes. For the most part, you're right - but those a-holes don't frequent this particular topic.

 

Also, you watched Tuukka Rask for 6 games while he's playing maybe the best hockey of his career. He's a Vezina winner, career .927 save %, no one in Boston doesn't think he's a good goalie. However, in years prior (literally every year) he has shown an ability to self-destruct in the big moments and/or lose concentration to the point that the players see it. In a town that reveres it's sports heroes and prime-time performers, there's plenty of reason Rask has avoided that praise up to this point.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I'm all-in on St. Louis. Is that a respectable position?

 

Also, the Bruins can piss up a rope. No one likes Boston.

[Sport]

1 hour ago, speedy said:

 

You know, usually I'm on board with your posts and greatly respect what you typically do post. However, I also think @Brass and I, and others on this board (save for one or two) have acted accordingly. The only one that sounds like a baby is you and your previous few post-loss posts. We get it, you hate Boston, you think we're all a-holes. For the most part, you're right - but those a-holes don't frequent this particular topic.

 

The guys here have been fine. I'm clearly talking about the collective Boston sports scene, which is famously lousy with a-holes and you've admitted as much. This is a side-effect of winning everything for two decades. Those people will get real quiet and go away when the inevitable dry spell finally happens. We're all looking forward to it. But your team just went farther than mine's ever been, by beating mine, and it's irksome to see complaints about the guys who pulled that off. Do you understand how that looks? You've lamented over the fact that this core has only won the one cup in 2011 rather than 2 or 3. Do you understand how that looks? 

 

 

Quote

Also, you watched Tuukka Rask for 6 games while he's playing maybe the best hockey of his career. He's a Vezina winner, career .927 save %, no one in Boston doesn't think he's a good goalie. However, in years prior (literally every year) he has shown an ability to self-destruct in the big moments and/or lose concentration to the point that the players see it. In a town that reveres it's sports heroes and prime-time performers, there's plenty of reason Rask has avoided that praise up to this point.

I'm not new to this sport, nor is this a new Rask take. What you've levied against him could be applied towards every goaltender in hockey. I've watched more Tuukka Rask, playoffs and regular season, than just the last six games and my assessment is that in order to have a problem with Rask, relative to other goalies, you need to be sports-spoiled so that your expectations of pro athletes are skewed towards the unreasonable. I think that's a fair account of how Boston treats its athletes. That Boston's pro athletes over the last 18 years have so often met these unreasonable expectations only serves to validate and perpetuate this behavior. 

 

 

[speedy]

Just now, McCarthy said:

 

The guys here have been fine. I'm clearly talking about the collective Boston sports scene, which is famously lousy with a-holes and you've admitted as much. This is a side-effect of winning everything for two decades. Those people will get real quiet and go away when the inevitable dry spell finally happens. We're all looking forward to it. But your team just went farther than mine's ever been, by beating mine, and it's irksome to see complaints about the guys who pulled that off. Do you understand how that looks? You've lamented over the fact that this core has only won the one cup in 2011 rather than 2 or 3. Do you understand how that looks? 

 

I understand exactly how that looks. It's the same thing as saying it's a travesty the Lightning choke on a glass of water every year. It's a reasonable expectation based on talent. The Bruins should have multiple championships, they don't. Pointing that out is a problem because they have 1? Stop it. I'm not a Patriots fan, I'm not a Celtics fan, I'm a Bruins fan. I've been in your shoes for 24 years before they won the Cup in 2011. Watching Ray Bourque lift the cup in burgundy. First round exits year after year, losing to the 8 seed twice, blowing a 3-0 series lead and a 3-0 lead in a game 7. There has been far more lows than your Blue Jackets have ever really come close to feeling. Don't think I take 2011 for granted, and also don't think just because 2011 happened I'm not allowed to lament on what could have been a dynasty if the puck fell the right way just a few more times. 

 

Say the Blue Jackets win a cup in 2020, you're going to want one in 2021, 2022, 2023, and so on. By 2029 when the Blue Jackets go back to losing in the first round all the time you're not going to be thrilled.

 

Just now, McCarthy said:

I'm not new to this sport, nor is this a new Rask take. What you've levied against him could be applied towards every goaltender in hockey. I've watched more Tuukka Rask, playoffs and regular season, than just the last six games and my assessment is that in order to have a problem with Rask, relative to other goalies, you need to be sports-spoiled so that your expectations of pro athletes are skewed towards the unreasonable. I think that's a fair account of how Boston treats its athletes. That Boston's pro athletes over the last 18 years have so often met these unreasonable expectations only serves to validate this behavior. 

 

This is going to turn into a beating your head against a wall discussion. You need to stop with the spoiled Boston talk with every argument. I get it. Doesn't apply here. Rask, has melted in big time moments more times than he's shined. That's the problem. That's not unreasonable expectations because blah blah, it's a fact. With his play right now (stole TOR-CBJ series') he's making me eat crow, and that's fine - I love it.