NHL 2009 Super Special Playoff Edition Megathread

[Still MIGHTY]

Anybody but Detroit...

There are ex-Ducks for me to root for on the other three teams left. I could be satisfied with a Blackhawks, Penguins, or Carolina victory.

I've followed this team from their very first game. This was our 4th Game 7 in franchise history and I don't think I've ever been more devastated by a loss or a series loss than I was with today's.

I was ready to accept another anti-climatic loss and accept that the Wings are a great team (although I hate the very existence of them), but I was reminded of the one thing I should never question in any Ducks team. Especially this one. Their heart, grit, and determination. They were down 2-0 in Game 7 in Joe Louis Arena, the gazes of Steve Yzerman and Gordie Howe and 11 Stanley Cups above them. But they fought back to get a goal. Teemu Selanne, Mr. Duck at this point, fought off the hit to the head he sustained a minute or so before to cut the lead in half. They took another shot to the gut with a quick Detroit response. But they continued to fight to tie it up. They came back to get the opportunity to take this into overtime or end it in regulation... but a (somewhat questionable goal as you technically arent allowed to push the goaltender's pad into the net to score, but that's all over now) goal by Dan Cleary to end probably one of the two best series in the Ducks relatively young history (The other would be the 2007 series vs Detroit).

While I am completely disappointed in the result and shaken more than I ever have been with a loss, this is a season taht I will be proud of and remember. It all was started when the Ducks lost five of its first six to begin the season, when they lost six of eight going into the All-Star break (including defeats to Tampa Bay and the Islanders), when they traded away three players from their Stanley Cup team, when they were in 12th place in the West in mid-March. It was nearly finished when they were paired against the top-seaded Sharks to begin the playoffs, again when they earned a second-round date with the Red Wings, yet again when they lost Game 1, and one more time when they fell into a 3-games-to-2 hole. And all the Ducks continued to do was push forward and wear their hearts on their sleeves. They showed more heart than almost any other team I've seen.

The Ducks motto during their Stanley Cup year was "Destiny is Heart, Sacrifice, and Passion."

This Ducks team embodied almost every aspect of that statement. Although their destiny this season fell short of the ultimate goal.

Go Ducks.

Get ready to taken on the world again next season.

[gingerbreadmann]

I'm half-heartedly listening to "I Love College" over and over again

So this post is your suicide note, is what you're saying.

Glad you picked up on it, now you are supposed to get me some help.

...now!

[Cujo]

Conference Final predictions...

Eastern Conference Final

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Carolina Hurricanes - Penguins in 5

Western Conference Final

Detroit Red Wings vs. Chicago Blackhawks - Red Wings in 4

[JQK]

Eastern Conference Finals

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Carolina Hurricanes

Penguins in 6

Western Conference Finals

Detroit Red Wings vs. Chicago Blackhawks

Blackhawks in 7

With this post-season being full of long six and seven game series, I have no reason to doubt that we will have the same in the conference finals.

[OMMF]

*crushed*

Let's go P-Bruins. Eat those Hershey Bears!

[Sodboy13]

Hooray! Now I don't have to root for Boston as the lesser of all evils.

Aww, come on. There's still a few seats left on the Blackhawks bandwagon, and I've got one saved for you. Hey, divisional pride, right? No one back home has to know.

Well, a replay of '92 might be entertaining.

(I'm more worried about not drinking the "Yay! Mike Hohensee's the coach of the Peoria Pirates!" Kool-Ade at the moment.)

If they sign Hohensee, chug-a-lug, son.

[gingerbreadmann]

*crushed*

Let's go P-Bruins. Eat those Hershey Bears!

Way ahead of you man!

Now that this has settled in a bit...

, we're really finished. Damn.

[rams80]

I'm half-heartedly listening to "I Love College" over and over again

So this post is your suicide note, is what you're saying.

Glad you picked up on it, now you are supposed to get me some help.

...now!

JUMP!!!!!!!

[rams80]

Hooray! Now I don't have to root for Boston as the lesser of all evils.

Aww, come on. There's still a few seats left on the Blackhawks bandwagon, and I've got one saved for you. Hey, divisional pride, right? No one back home has to know.

Well, a replay of '92 might be entertaining.

(I'm more worried about not drinking the "Yay! Mike Hohensee's the coach of the Peoria Pirates!" Kool-Ade at the moment.)

If they sign Hohensee, chug-a-lug, son.

O/T 'Taint if, but fact.

Unfortunately the af2 won't let any member of last year's Rush roster player in the league, and I doubt he'd stick around longer than this year anyway.

[FiddySicks]

*crushed*

Let's go P-Bruins. Eat those Hershey Bears!

Way ahead of you man!

Now that this has settled in a bit...

, we're really finished. Damn.

As a fan of another disappointing team, just be happy you got to the second round.

How long till baseball gets serious?

[oddball]

They came back to get the opportunity to take this into overtime or end it in regulation... but a (somewhat questionable goal as you technically arent allowed to push the goaltender's pad into the net to score, but that's all over now) goal by Dan Cleary to end probably one of the two best series in the Ducks relatively young history (The other would be the 2007 series vs Detroit).

While I am completely disappointed in the result and shaken more than I ever have been with a loss, this is a season taht I will be proud of and remember. It all was started when the Ducks lost five of its first six to begin the season, when they lost six of eight going into the All-Star break (including defeats to Tampa Bay and the Islanders), when they traded away three players from their Stanley Cup team, when they were in 12th place in the West in mid-March. It was nearly finished when they were paired against the top-seaded Sharks to begin the playoffs, again when they earned a second-round date with the Red Wings, yet again when they lost Game 1, and one more time when they fell into a 3-games-to-2 hole. And all the Ducks continued to do was push forward and wear their hearts on their sleeves. They showed more heart than almost any other team I've seen.

The Ducks motto during their Stanley Cup year was "Destiny is Heart, Sacrifice, and Passion."

This Ducks team embodied almost every aspect of that statement. Although their destiny this season fell short of the ultimate goal.

Go Ducks.

Get ready to taken on the world again next season.

Their destiny was to lose. Did you really think that this streaky team had any shot of winning it all? If you did, then you didn't pay attention. They were lucky to get the San Jose Chokers in the first round. While they did play admirably and did show passion, in the end their stupidity showed up. Where? Try that little altercation at the end of the last game. You didn't think that you were going to intimidate the defending Stanley Cup Champions did you? You didn't think that picking on Detroit's skill guys was going to scare them? Bad, bad mistake. Whoever decided that was a good idea, should be cross-checked upside the back of the head. You had an opportunity to defeat Detroit and you had to do something completely stupid like start a fight at the end of game 6 to piss them off? Everytime Anaheim seems to take a step forward to get away from Anaheim Goon hockey, they do something stupid like that fight to cement their stupid reputation. And they wonder why they get called for so many penalties? Because they take so many stupid penalties. You'll never get back to the Finals as long as you have Carlyle as your coach. Your weakness is Carlyle. While he was the one who "guided" you to the Cup in 2007 (actually it was Giguere), he's the reason you get so many penalties called. As long as he's head coach and you run his system, you'll continue to get screwed with penalties and the reputation of taking bad penalties. The Ducks have great players. Heck, as a Kings fan I love watching Getzlaf, Ryan, Perry, and Selanne. And really, your #1 defenseman is not Pronger or Niedermayer, it's Beauchemin. You have a Stanley Cup caliber team with a bad coach and a bad system.

As far as the Cleary goal, um, even your pathetic unintelligent announcers said that Cleary didn't push Hiller into the goal. So when the complete moron Brian Heyward actually says something that goes against the Ducks, you have to take it for truth. I just about fell out of my chair when he said that Cleary did not push Hiller into the goal. Did Cleary hit Hiller's pad? Possible, but it was Hiller who kicked the puck into the net. Cleary was going after the puck, it's Hiller's responsibility as a goaltender to keep the puck out of the net. The puck was moving towards the goal line and Hiller kicked it in. If Hiller had the puck in front of him and Cleary pushed him and the puck across the goal line, you have an argument, but Hiller never had control of the puck, nor did he even know where the puck was. If Hiller doesn't have control of the puck and the ref can see the puck, it's fair game. Play doesn't stop when the goalie can't see the puck, only supposedly when the ref can't see it or when it crosses the goal line. The ref was behind the net and saw the puck there, and so he didn't blow the whistle because it's still in play. You sit there and complain about this correct call when you know you got a gift in was it game 4 when the puck was clearly across the line before the whistle blew? The Hockey Gods have a way of evening things out, you really didn't think you were going to get another gift call did you?

[Roger Clemente]

Goodnight Boston. So close and yet so far away.

[gingerbreadmann]

*crushed*

Let's go P-Bruins. Eat those Hershey Bears!

Way ahead of you man!

Now that this has settled in a bit...

, we're really finished. Damn.

As a fan of another disappointing team, just be happy you got to the second round.

How long till baseball gets serious?

Oh no doubt, I just hate that feeling when you realize you ain't going any further and you ain't playing for 5 more months. This season was a lot of fun though, just that series was the only really disappointing thing about it, especially after the complete dismembering of MTL. And hopefully there will not be too many serious cap casualties. I'm okay though, time to move on and forget. And root for both Western conference teams.

[PatriotX03]

I'm screwed now, I'm not rooting for either the Hurricanes or the Penguins and with my complete hatred of all western conference teams I have no one left to root for

what a wonderful season down the tube

I just hope providence doesn't get too filled up on all that hershey chocolate

[Jigga]

You don't need to root for or against, just enjoy. This has been a great playoff season thus far, and we're only halfway there.

[Brass]

Basically since my team's out, I'm just rootin' for good hockey. Could care less who advances and wins, just give me a good game to watch every night.

[charger77]

Will this finally be the year Joel Quenneville gets over the hump against detroit as a head coach?

-Dan

[IceCap]

Oh, and go Wings! I dunno why everyone hates them so much.

I'm a Leafs fan. Comes with the territory. Same reason I hate the Habs, Sens, and Sabres.

As for fans of the rest of the league? It's the Yankees affect. The Wings are dominant, and everyone wants to see them go down.

They still suck though. Them and the Yankees

Well maybe that hatred will come with time, but the only pure evil in the NHL is based in some French Canadian s**thole. THEY are the NHL Yankees.

Yeah, historically the Habs are the Yanks of the NHL (or are the Yanks the Habs of MLB ), but the Canadiens have lacked the recent rush of success that have made the Yankees everyone's most hated team in baseball.

The Red Wings are more comparable to the Yankees in that regard.

And maybe you can call this season a success, but with a record like that you have got to hope for more. The Habs series was a step, but come on, the Hurricanes? They just died during games 2-4 and could not get shots when they needed to in OT (I'm looking at you, Chucky). And that goal, I don't want to talk about it.

Welcome to Leafs Nation, circa 2002. They beat the Islanders in round one in a very rough series of games (went to game 7, IIRC), and got the crap kicked out of them physically. Then they beat the Senators in a round 2 they had no business winning due to injuries. How does the season end? Losing the Eastern Conference Finals to the Hurricanes 4-2, who then go to get blown out by the Detroit Haseks Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals.

I mean the Hurricanes? WTF? Especially after all the Leafs had gone through that year, that was a really tough pill to swallow.

But I digress. Fact is the Bruins accomplished something this year that they had failed miserably to do before; have a stand-out season AND beat the Montréal Canadiens in the playoffs. It's not the Stanley Cup, but you have to get from A to B before moving onto C.

[charger77]

Since we're at the half way mark I guess we can begin the Conn Smythe discussion. Some early favorites so far would be: Crosby, Franzen, Kane, Ward.

Who else should be added to the short list?

-Dan

[Brian in Boston]

If I were a Bruins fan, I would have called the season a success as soon as they beat the Canadiens in round 1. Anything after that was just gravy.

Sorry, but no. That's not nearly good enough. We're talking about a once-proud team that is stuck in a 37-year Stanley Cup Championship drought. This team was positioned to go to the Stanley Cup Finals and, quite frankly, take advantage of a better than even chance of hoisting the hardware. To see them spit-the-bit against the 'Canes after sweeping the Habs is gutting.

As for next year, my fear is that notorious skinflint-owner Jeremy Jacobs is going to think that the better-than-expected 2008-09 season and first-round playoff sweep of the Canadiens has placated once-disgruntled Bruins fans. That, combined with the uncharacteristically generous $20-million extension he lavished on Tim Thomas, could lead Jacobs to revert to his penny-pinching ways. Given that the Bs are going to have their work cut-out for them in trying to squeeze-in a number of crucial free-agent components under the salary cap, such a development would be devastating. The Bruins window of opportunity to make good on the Stanley Cup promise exhibited during this season could be slammed shut pretty damned quick.

It may be "morning after" pessimism talking, but I get the sinking feeling that the Bruins should have taken a "future is now" attitude throughout these Stanley Cup Playoffs.