Tempboy

WHOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

diddagirl

I hardly think so. They were great goals, scored by a fantastic team. I understand its a tough loss for TB fans tho..... they got their ass kicked.

__________________
"Is it so small a thing to have enjoyed the sun, to have lived long in the spring, to have loved, to have thought, to have done."
-Matthew Arnold

sherpahigh

Are you guys kidding me? Goals 2 and 3 were fantastic goals!! Iggy's shorthanded breakaway was nothing short of a spectacular effort. After being denied on the initial attempt by 'bulin, Iggy put in a great second effort for and got a great goal.

And Yelle's 3rd marker was the epitome of patience. Fantastic work to knock the defencman off the puck gather it up, get out in front and instead of just shoving it into 'bulin's pads he had a look and found some space up high on the short side.

And the first one goal? Even I'll admit that that wasn't pretty, they were pluggin away and got lucky when 'bulin's skate knocked it in. I mean I'll take that type of goal all the way to the cup, but goals 2 and 3... well they were damn pretty.

Great game, can't wait for thursday!! Go Flames Go!!!

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"It'd be better for me if you don't understand"

DDDDave

Hey, this is the finals. They are both great teams.

That being said, the Bolts did not get their asses kicked. They got beat by a good team who took advantage of their opportunities. I have said it before, Calgary knows how to finish. Iginla is a handfull. The Bolts seemed flat for most of the game. Game 7 hangover? Maybe. No excuse though. You guys know I go to all the games and I swear it was like watching our team in different uniforms. They are fast, counterattack well, have a good penalty killing strategy, fast, good goaltender, and did I mention they are fast After coming off the series against Philly which was all about size and muscle, Calgary is a change of pace. We knew that though. We just didn't get it done.

The wins are never as dominating as they seem, and the losses are never as bad as they appear either.

This is going to be a great series ! Lot's of good hockey yet to be played.

__________________
I am just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe...

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." - Thoreau

"Nothing great was ever accomplished without enthusiasm" - Emerson

sherpahigh

I'll agree with all of that. These are two great teams and I know Calgary hasn't seen the Bolt's full power yet. That said, Calgary's got more where that came from. There is going to be some great hockey coming up. Can't wait.

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"It'd be better for me if you don't understand"

frolichoek

Let me clarify my previous statement. Fans of hockey (as I am) would be hard pressed to find a better matchup than Flames/Lightning. Exciting hockey, open ice, no trap, etc. But you and I aren't the people that the NHL needs to appeal to. No, I don't want to see the same teams in the Finals every year. But in this particular year, with the CBA fallout, the crappy national TV deal, and continuing indifference to the game, this particular matchup will generate very little interest outside of the home markets. Please remember, the hardcore hockey fan is NOT who the league needs to market to. The NHL needs to market itself to the people who would only watch a Red Wings/Devils final. NHL marketing is practically nil right now, and it isn't going to get any better after the ratings come out for these finals.

Oh yeah, Go Flames.

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Count me in, bra.

Serpent

Actually khabibulin would of made the save on the third goal if he was on his game.. couldn't believe that he didn't and the second goal went in because khabibiulin thought the puck went behind him, he doesn't fall backwards and out of step much, which led to the open side of the goal for iginla...

sherpahigh

You're right, Iggy's huge second effort to put in the rebound and Yelle's patience looking around for a hole to put it had nothing to do with it. Must all come down to the fact that khabibulin was having an off day.

Still no respect for the Flames. I suppose if they win the cup it'll be because the Bolts had some "off" games and not because they actually deserve it.

I can see what your're getting at on the 2nd goal, but I'd put more blame on the defenceman for leaving Iginla with the chance for the second effort rather than Bulin who had just made a great save and didn't see where the puck went on the rebound because he was falling backwards from Iggys breakaway. And I still give all the credit for the goal to Igina for the great second effort, not because he got lucky.

Yells goal though, I totally disagree. That was just a really nice goal, and the reason why is because 'Bulin was fooled into thinking he was just going to try and stuff it in down low on the wrap around like you see all the time. He wasn't expecting a non-goal scorer like Yelle to have such paitence out in front of the net. Beautiful goal.

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"It'd be better for me if you don't understand"

Go_AVS

The CUP just doesn't deserve to be in Florida so send it back to Canada.

Go FLAMES...

I will feel sorry for Dave A. though, at least he reached the finals.

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MIA...

DDDDave

sherpahigh, good analysis from where you sit. I can hear myself saying the same things when Marty and Lecavalier pull off nice plays.
But I have to call you on 'patience'. Calgary made a good play by double teaming Boyle behind the net, but where was his help? Then he takes the puck and literally walks it up the side of the net. Looks in at Khabi, takes his time and actually pulls the puck back to make a perfect roofer just under the bar. Where was everybody else on the team? It wasn't a 5 on 4. How does a guy get that open and just stand there without somebody either hitting him or poking the puck away? The replay shows Kubina just standing in the crease looking at him. AAARRRGGHH. This is what I meant by taking advantage of their opportunities. They are fininshers. If you leave them open like that they will not miss.
Khabi wasn't fooled. That is the shot you have to cover. You can't cover both. The Iginla goal was also a misplay by Kubina but it was an outstanding effort by Iginla to take advantage of the opportunity and finish hard. I give Calgary plenty of respect. They have come together at the right time and are playing outstanding hockey.

We'll be back. We haven't lost two in a row since March. I don't know if they mentioned it on TV but when Sutter came out and opened the game by trapping, it confused the Lightning. It wasn't a Devils trap but more of an Islanders trap, but it was so obvious live that there was tremendous congestion in the neutral zone. Once agan, credit to the Flames (Sutter). All they talked up was push, push, push and then they came out and trapped. It didn't really work but it threw the Lightning off and helped the Flames keep control.

All professional sports are a game of adjustments . The Lightning will make some and the Flames will do something different. That's why they play seven games.

Getting ready for tomorrow.

__________________
I am just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe...

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." - Thoreau

"Nothing great was ever accomplished without enthusiasm" - Emerson

metalgeek

For the person who said this was bad for tv, game 1 is the second highest rating for an NHL playoff game ever in Canada, with 3 odd million viewers, (second two Vancouvers last game of the 94 plays at 4.5 million)
however only around 1 million viewers in the states. (which seems low for some reason)

__________________
The truth is, wherever you choose to be, it's the wrong place.
Chuck Palahniuk , Diary

Tempboy

I guess the US viewer numbers would be bigger if one of the bigger markets got into the finals.. but who cares.

Serpent

Reason why its low in the states is because it was on ESPN.. not everyone has cable here, and i'd imagine it was on prime time network tv in canada.

sherpahigh

DDDave,
I definitly hear what you're saying, or see it as the case may be. Different perspectives from different sides of the fence.

Either way it's shaping up to be a great final. Can't wait for the game tonight. I think the Bolts are gonna come out strong but I think the Flames will match it and could end up taking two on enemy ice. Go Flames Go!!!

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"It'd be better for me if you don't understand"

Tempboy

The FAN960's website is finally up... now we can listen to some good ol' Calgary radio (for those not in Calgary....like me!).. I hate it when the NHL.com feed dies during the post-game discussion.

http://www.fan960.com

Tirian

hmm game 2 over

I'm not saying it caused the outcome of the game, but that was the worst officiating I've seen since the Dallas and Buffalo game 6...forever known to me as the year that no-one won the cup.

00111000

I didnt get to see much of the game, only the last 10 mins or so . Gotta wait for the late night replay. Some nice yellin at the end!

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- And so he says, 'I don't like the cut of your jib.' And I go I says, IT'S THE ONLY JIB I GOT, BABY! -

DDDDave

They were great goals, scored by a fantastic team. I understand it is a tough loss for the Calgary fans tho..... they got their ass kicked


Great game. Same score as game 1, but totally different. The Lightning played their game. Attack, forecheck, good penalty killing, suffocating goaltending. NO BS neutral zone trapping tonight. Agree with the earlier poster about the officiating, par for the course in the playoffs though. They call it tight early, ticky-tacky in fact, and let them play at the end. When Calagary sent in the goons, it was good to see the Lightning put them in their place. It was the same in the Philly series.

Hey, I get to see at least a game 5.

GOOOOO BOLTS !!!

__________________
I am just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe...

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." - Thoreau

"Nothing great was ever accomplished without enthusiasm" - Emerson

imp

Go red team!!

Ace_O_Spades

that is some SERIOUS sass... mr sassypants

but yeah, I wish i had cable so I could watch more of this series... It's shaping up to be quite a great one.

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Feh.

Tempboy

1. Like when Ference spanked Stillman and sent him running off?

2. I make an effort to spell 'Tampa Bay' correctly. I know it wasn't intentional, but it's not 'Calagary', it's 'Calgary'.

Having said that, Calgary didn't deserve to win this game.. Conroy and Nilson were both 26% in the faceoff circle today.. our PP is still inept.

But the reffing is still horrible. Three 5-on-3 advantages? Umm.. yeah, great.

Ace_O_Spades

maybe its the start of a new trend Tempboy... actually calling penalties when they happen regardless of the shitty situation it will put the team in...

NAW... that would be way too fair, and would actually penalize a team for their mistakes instead of letting them slide due to the "disadvantage" it would create...

damn hockey pisses me off sometimes

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Feh.

Tempboy

I'm not just talking about those calls..
They lost control of the game.. mystery calls on BOTH sides.. calling so many penalties it disrupts the flow of the game..

And if they DO decide to be anal and call every little thing.. at least have some consistency. There is absolutely no consistent reffing from game to game.

metalgeek

Ughh,m not saying Calgary deserved to win, but yeah, Reffing was horrible.
generally rule of thumb in playoffs is let emm play, unless something is obvious, or prevents possible goals, let emm play. to much disruption of the game is not good. a properly reffed game will usually have 3-5 penalties for each team, not 7-9

__________________
The truth is, wherever you choose to be, it's the wrong place.
Chuck Palahniuk , Diary

maximusveritas

oh well, the lightning did what they had to do to stay in the series. the flames are happy going home with a split.
this has been and will continue to be a great series.

Tirian

That's what I was talkin' about.

DDDDave

The refereeing is not consistent from game to game because there are two different sets of refs. Games 1,3,5 and games 2,4,6. Game 7 refs are chosen by the 'best' refs from prior games. WTF?

Yeah, Stillman took his beating, he's one of our smaller players but it's hard to blame him the way he got cross-checked (flattened) in the slot. But Roy punished his guy too. I know fighting is a part of hockey, but I still don't get it. If anything it may have created some bad blood which will make for some even better games.

Along those lines I am attaching a cute article from the local fish wrap....



They're not like Philly fans

TAMPA -- Welcome to the Stanley Cup Finals, one of the fiercest competitions in all of sports. By the way, would you care for some sugar on your pancakes?

The Tampa Bay Lightning played the Calgary Flames in Game 2 Thursday night before a sellout crowd at the St. Pete Times Forum, and while the atmosphere was ridiculously electric, one thing was noticeably missing: Hatred.

How can anyone hate Calgary? The hockey being played is wildly entertaining, but this series is simply too cute and cuddly. It's turned into a handshake instead of a hip check. It's the Boys of Winter playing in the Summer of Love.

On Wednesday, as a gesture of friendship and goodwill, the Calgary Chamber of Commerce even hosted a pancake breakfast for representatives of the Tampa Bay area, including Tampa's mayor.

Perfect: a championship series covered in syrup and melted butter.

This bake sale is so different from the Eastern Conference Finals against the Philadelphia Flyers. Tampa Bay has an intense rivalry growing with Philadelphia, and fans in both cities have fed off the venom.

Unlike with Calgary, there's a history with Philadelphia. The Bucs beat the Eagles two years ago to reach the Super Bowl, and the Lightning knocked off the Flyers this year to reach the Stanley Cup Finals.

Philadelphia fans are passionate, but easy to hate. They are the fans who once booed Santa Claus at a game and cheered when football player Michael Irvin was carried off the field with a broken neck.

But no one's quite sure what to think of Calgary fans. They seem unfailingly polite, and because astute hockey knowledge is their birthright, you could never win an argument about the sport with them.

No one seems to know whether to heckle them or offer them directions to Busch Gardens.

And even if a Calgary fan insulted the Tampa Bay area, what could a Tampa Bay fan possibly come back with? "Well, at least our city didn't host the 1988 Winter Olympics."

This series has turned into such a pillow fight that you can't even call Calgary a "Cowtown." They actually take that as a compliment. That's because Calgary is the home to the world-famous Calgary Stampede, a parade and rodeo that attracts over 1 million people each year.

Perhaps no one hates Calgary because, honestly, when was the last time anyone in Florida gave Calgary a thought? Who could even pick it out on a map?

Calgary is the largest city in Alberta, with a population of 850,000. It is situated near the Canadian Rockies, and is the home of much of Canada's gas and oil industry.

But the city's passion, of course, is the Flames, the same way Tampa's sport scene swirls around the Bucs.

Actually, Canada's passion for hockey is so deep it almost makes you feel sorry for Calgary's players. The whole country is behind the Flames, and its pride seems to hinge on whether they win this series.

The players are well aware of the pressure, too. A team from Canada has not won the Stanley Cup since 1993, and Calgary has not won it since 1989.

Even Wayne Gretzky, who is like royalty in Canada, was at Thursday night's game. Think he was rooting for the Lightning?

The players and coaches don't even take shots at each other. In the Philadelphia series, Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella told Philadelphia coach Ken Hitchcock to shut his "yap." In this series, Tortorella said he has nothing but respect for Calgary coach Darryl Sutter and refused to turn the series into a battle between the United States and Canada.

And get this: Here's what Tampa Bay's Martin St. Louis had to say about Calgary superstar Jarome Iginla.

"He takes time away from the game and he's just a good all-around person," St. Louis said. "As much success as he has, he always goes out of his way to say hi to people."

And so it's on to Calgary for Game 3.

See you at the pancake breakfast.

__________________
I am just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe...

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." - Thoreau

"Nothing great was ever accomplished without enthusiasm" - Emerson

Tirian

Those pancakes had some flies mixed in with the blueberries !

BonesCPA

Maybe we have a real series going here. Let see if we trade off games like the Flyers-Lightning matchup.

Everytime they talk about Philly fans the always bring up the Santa Claus incident. What everyone doesn't realize is that we aren't embarassed by this, we take pride in this.

From USA TODAY:

PHILADELPHIA — No surprise Philadelphia fans were rough on the Eagles at 0-2. After all, they once threw snowballs at ....
Hold it. In a new book titled The Great Philadelphia Fan Book, co-authors Glen Macnow and Anthony L. Gargano contend Philly fans get a bum rap in frequent mentions about that 1968 day when they hurled snowballs at Santa Claus. Not that they didn't do it.

"No event has been used to tar-and-feather Philadelphia fans as much. And no event has been as exaggerated, misconstrued and inaccurately recalled," they write.

Macnow, a talk show host along with Gargano on WIP radio in Philadelphia, says it's all about the circumstances.

"Everybody just thinks that people pelted Santa with snow balls for no reason other than we're mean people," he says.

A crowd of 54,535 showed in a snowstorm that Dec. 15 day at Franklin Field to watch the last-place Eagles finished off a 2-12 season with a loss to Minnesota.

The book says that team owner Jerry Wolman had "dismantled a strong, proud franchise" and hired Joe Kuharich as coach and general manager. Kuharich, who inspired the "Joe Must Go" slogan, traded Hall of Fame quarterback Sonny Jurgensen to Washington for Norm Snead.

At halftime, there was supposed to be a Christmas pageant. Then there was too much snow and muck for a float to parade around the field. Instead, according to the book, a 19-year-old fan wearing a Santa suit and fake beard in the stands was recruited to jog onto the field between two columns of cheerleaders.

The authors don't deny boos were heard and that snowballs were tossed. Are they saying Santa had it coming?

"Santa had it coming for a different reason actually," says Macnow. "Santa was a surrogate that day for Joe Kuharich and Jerry Wolman and Norm Snead. The poor kid just happened to be representing the frustrations."

The authors tracked down the Santa, Frank Olivo, who now lives in Ocean City, N.J. In the book, Olivo says he has no hard feelings. "I'm a Philadelphia fan, I knew what was what. I thought it was funny," he is quoted as saying.

But Olivo recalls that when he was asked if he might want to play Santa again the next season, he balked. "No way. If it doesn't snow, they'll probably throw beer bottles."

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Back into hibernation.

diddagirl

Uhhhh, yeahhh. Good thing nobody was trying to say that Tampa did not deserve that win and that there goals were not worthy (Unlike the person I said that too- who were trying to minizmize Calgary's win)

It was definitly a great game. Tampa played very well and I was quite dissapointed with the way Calgary got really sloppy towards the end of the game and got so many needless penalties. Looking forward to game 3, its gonna be intense!

__________________
"Is it so small a thing to have enjoyed the sun, to have lived long in the spring, to have loved, to have thought, to have done."
-Matthew Arnold

Tempboy

What? You have to be joking. You can't use different referees to justify the crap they pull. This is a professional league. You can't have inconsistent reffing.. where in one game, a certain infraction will be let go, and in the next game, it'll get called a dozen times.

Fly

see what brand of hockey we get without the trap?


i freakin' love it.......run and gun baby......

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BASTARD

SterlingStudios

Tempboy

3-0 shutout, baby! GO FLAMES GOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ace_O_Spades

Haha, wow... good job calgary, there's gonna be partying tonight

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Feh.

silent_jay

Good show Flames

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Absence makes the heart grow fonder

metalgeek

mmm wonderful game to watch, just wonderful.
Think the lightning are starting to get worn down?
Shame about the injury to Fedetenko though, bad accident, hope it isn't broken.

__________________
The truth is, wherever you choose to be, it's the wrong place.
Chuck Palahniuk , Diary

Fly

just gotta keep hammerin' tampa............they'll get tired and sore.



upper 49th baby.............bring back the cup

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BASTARD

SterlingStudios

Tirian

I got a good chuckle during an interview with Simon on the Canadian coverage after the game. I saw that on his last shift with seconds to go he was jawing at Habbie, and I was wondering what that was about.

So the interviewer asks Simon what he was saying to Habbie, and Simon says as polite as can be, "Well he gave me a little tap on the way by, so I just wanted to ask him what that was all about." I wondered if he was so polite talking with Habbie ?

Made me laugh...good line Chris.

diddagirl

Awesome game. As expected this has turned out to be one hell of a series so far. Really looking forward to tomorrow nights game!

__________________
"Is it so small a thing to have enjoyed the sun, to have lived long in the spring, to have loved, to have thought, to have done."
-Matthew Arnold

sherpahigh

That game on Saturday was great! I was out camping near Canmore this weekend for a sort of Stag party. There were about 10 of us gathered around a tiny little black and white tv to watch the game and it was a great time. Great game and a great weekend in the mountains. Can't beat that in the spring.

Still no luck on tickets for tonight though. I'll have to keep trying.

Go Flames Go!! The cup is coming home. Wooooohooo!!

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"It'd be better for me if you don't understand"