Drive-by Insulting

Ever wonder how the Penguins' playoff run (stay with me here, it goes somewhere) matches up to a particular video game? How about Punch-Out. Guess who the sens would be? If you said Glass Joe then you'd be right:

Sorry, if you ever even lost to Joe the first time you ever held a Nintendo controller you have no business playing video games or turning on a TV ( my Grandmother beat Joe once when we told her the B button changed the channel from our game so she could watch General Hospital). The Ottawa Senators didn't show up, before the Game 1 introductions you could see them making summer vacation plans in their heads. The Pens caught The Sens running their mouth, hit him in the jaw and they went down for the 10 count.

But wait! There's more! This article will help provide sens fans with some solace.

That's all from me! The sens are the pansiest boxer in Punch Out and sens fans are girls. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Try saying "Kulemin" ten times.

I tried. It's tricky.

Nevertheless, the Leafs have high hope for Malkin's former line-mate and RSL Playoff MVP finalist for 2008.

He's in Toronto today apparently looking for a place to live, but I just looked out my 6th story window and I don't see him anywhere.

Who's your captain's captain?

Sundin will be in Pittsburgh tonight to accept the NHL Mark Messier Leadership Award.

Seems the entire NHL knows what Sens fans are determined to never figure out.

I'm sorry Bryan, can you repeat the question?

Bryan Murray and the Ottawa Senators are interviewing for their vacant head coach position for the second straight season.

Who would you like to see get the gig?

Close at the top

The conference finals results:

Rank	Name	Pit	Phi	Det	Dal
	Actual	4	1	4	2
1	steved	4	1	4	1	1.75
2	jaredoflondon	4	2	4	2	1.75
3	Anshu	4	2	4	2	1.75
4	The Muppet	4	2	4	2	1.75
5	matt Stroud	4	2	4	2	1.75
6	Dare	4	2	4	3	3.5
7	Mr. Plank	4	2	4	3	3.5
8	Chemmy	4	3	4	2	3.5
9	Doogie2K	4	2	4	3	3.5
10	PPP	4	1	2	4	7
11	Yoda	4	1	2	4	7
12	Don	3	4	4	3	8.75
13	THM	4	2	1	4	10.5
14	DC in YOW	2	4	4	1	10.5
15	GeeIWonder	0	4	4	2	12.25
16	Duff	1	4	4	1	12.25
17	Jay Jardine	3	4	2	4	14
18	DHS	2	4	3	4	14
19	Bring Back Bowness	2	4	3	4	14
20	Wavetank	3	4	2	4	14
21	Gareth	3	4	1	4	15.75
	Total picks	12	9	13	8

And the current standings:

1	Yoda	26.5
2	steved	29.75
3	The Muppet	30.25
4	jaredoflondon	31
5	Chemmy	33
6	Doogie2K	37
7	Anshu	35
8	Dare	35.75
9	PPP	38.5
10	Don	43.25
11	matt Stroud	38
12	Mr. Plank	39.25
13	DC in YOW	46.5
14	THM	45.75
15	Duff	48.25
16	Wavetank	34
17	GeeIWonder	52.25
18	Jay Jardine	55.75
19	Gareth	42
20	Bring Back Bowness	60
21	DHS	60

I'm letting Yoda's late prediction count for the interest of competition. SteveD has Detroit in 6 and Yoda has Pit in 6. The Muppet has Det in 7 and if right would put him in the winners circle. JaredofLondon has the same prediction as SteveD so he can't win.

From Neutrality to Niewendyk...

I cannot, for the life of me, pick a team to cheer for in the finals. It's great hockey being played featuring some amazing players, but without some desire for one team or the other to succeed I'm finding it hard to get fully into it.

Anybody else experiencing this?

Also, it's being reported in the Star today that The Florida Panthers have denied the Leafs permission to speak with Joe Niewendyk.

Apparently the Leafs have hatched some idea that a trio of Fletcher, Nonis and Niewendyk might be a solution to this whole GM fiasco.

Niewendyk resigned from the Panthers a few months ago, which makes it a little odd that Florida will not let the Leafs talk to him prior to July 1 when his contract is officially over.

Pogge Finally in the Spotlight

For the third series in a row, the Marlies found themselves facing elimination, this time in the western conference finals. Down 3-0 to the Wolves, Gilbert finally did what most Leaf fans have been wishing he had done from the beginning, and threw the keys to the Leafs future goaltender.

Not a game too soon.

A 28 save game later, and the Marlies are still in it.

By a thread.

Good to see the kid get into some games that matter. Looking forward to Friday.

Playoff Prediction Contest - the finals!

Events have left me out of touch and behind in all manners of things. I'll be getting the standings up soon but please use the comments for this post to put your finals prediction up.

My thinking:

Det 4
Pit 2

BoO Fantasy Pool Standings

With the Finals not starting until Saturday, you'll have to read my name at the top of the standings for at least five more days. Big shout out to the SonicSurfers for supplying at least some competition for me.

Game Day: Solid Gold Edition

Man, do I ever miss late May game days.

Anyhow, for those of you not out on your jet skis / still hung over (11:30 on the blazing hot west coast) the boys are up 4-2 on the dirty Russians. Third period is ready to roll.

Anyone else scouting Alexei Morozov and Dani Markov?

Game Day: The Playoffs Are Officially Dead To Me Edition

Canada versus Sweden goes at 1:50 PM Pacific this aft (TSN, TSN.ca). Since it's a long weekend, most of you have already bailed for cottage country, but if your lonely or otherwise suffering through big game withdrawal, have at it in our comment section.

Canada 6, ABBA 3 (Rick Heatzlaf with two natural hatties)

I'm out of appropriate pump-up tunes, so you'll have to make do with this Skoda Knight Rider parody.

Crosby, Malkin and... Gill?

Ex-Leaf Hal Gill is getting a lot of credit for Pittsburgh's improved defensive play. This from The Star:

Gill has certainly brought down the Penguins' average team speed, but captain Sidney Crosby said Gill is one of the more underrated defenders in the NHL.

"I don't think he gets enough credit for how good he is with the puck, making that first pass," said Crosby. "He does a great job. He's not an easy guy to get away from down low. So he's been a big help to our team."

Gill is thriving in his new surroundings and was one of the most sought-after subjects of the media yesterday, who were trying to understand Pittsburgh's sudden commitment to defence.

The Penguins have allowed five power-play goals in 47 chances in the playoffs. That 89.4 per cent penalty kill rate is the second-best among the 16 teams that qualified for the post-season and tops among the four remaining.

The 2nd and 4th round draft picks Fletch converted for Gill will be nice for Toronto come June, but one wonders just how bad the Leafs already bad PK is gonna be without Hal on the blue line next year? What ranks below terrible?

You thought Afraidsson's head hurt this season?

Wait until next.

Mark Bell will be taking out some added frustrations on the opposition next season.
He's to start a 6 week prison-labour stint in California on June 2nd, where he will work 8 hours a day through to August 15th.

While most NHLers are resting and relaxing at the cottage, Bell will be doing manual labour in the hot sun for a month and a half, surrounded by criminals. Surely he will be in an even worse mood come training camp this year, which he will get to take part in for the first time as a Maple Leaf.

Currently it is not known if Bell will be wearing the trendy prison orange suit at work this summer, or the turn of the century black and white stripes. We'll update you as soon as we get word.

Toronto closing in on the cup.

The Calder Cup.

If you haven't been following, the Marlies were down 3-1 in their 2nd round series to the Syracuse Crunch and have fought back to force a game #7 tonight at Ricoh. They will be the 14th team ever to come back from 3-1, if they can pull it off. The last two games have been fun to watch, both Toronto wins coming by a goal, one late in OT.

They've done it all essentially missing their first line of Earl, Boyce and Williams. Bates Battaglia has two game winners in the series, and Clemmenson has been rock solid. Newbury leads all leaf scorers with 12 points and 49 penalty minutes.


Catch the game on Leafs TV at 7:30pm tonight.

As for BoO ramifications, Binghampton finished where many think the Sens are heading for next year: 10th place and out of the playoffs.

Blake diagnosed with another form of cancer.

The locker room kind.

After being told recently by doctors that he's more than beating his chronic myelogenous leukemia, great news indeed, Blake then went on to tell the press he would welcome a trade out of Toronto.

This is fantastic news if you despise the Toronto Maple Leafs. Consider this the beginning of what will surely be a long drawn-out episode. At $5M a year coming off a 15-goal season, Blake is practically untradeable. Which means the Leafs with all their troubles heading into 2008/2009, can add the distraction of giving a player ice time who doesn't even want to be here.

Thanks for nothing Jason Blake.

BRUNNSTROM NO LEAF

Months of speculation ended yesterday as the young Swede has chosen to play in Dallas next season.

His reasons for not coming to Toronto? According to his agent, Brunnstrom felt there would be too much pressure on him here and that the expectations would be a lot higher. If Toronto signed an unproven player to $850K a year with a bonus structure that could net him $2.5M a season, as Dallas did, you're damn right expectations would be high.
If he didn't want pressure and expectations, than why did he create a circus atmosphere and bidding war between NHL teams? All eyes will be on this kid next year no matter where he plays now.

Fletcher had this to say:

"It's a disappointment but I don't consider it a major disappointment," said Fletcher. "What I told the people in our organization is, `We might win the competition but how good is the prize?'"

We'll find out.

...in other news, the Sens suck.

Maurice and Spezza get demoted.

Day old news, but news just the same. The Leafs can Paul Maurice yesterday.
Today's Toronto Sun Headline:
NO GM. NO CAPTAIN. NO COACH. NO HOPE?

It's called starting over from scratch, folks. Deal with it.

In other news, Spezza playing on the fourth line on team Canada?

New leader! Get your Rnd 3 picks in.

Yoda takes over the overall lead with a good 2nd round.

Rnd 2 results:

Rank	Name	Mtl	Phi	Pit	NYR	Det	Col	SJ	Dal
	Actual	1	4	4	1	4	0	2	4
1	NCNM	2	4	4	2	4	2	1	4	7.5
2	THM	2	4	4	2	4	2	1	4	7.5
3	Yoda	3	4	4	2	4	2	2	4	7.5
4	steved	2	4	4	1	4	2	4	3	9
5	DC in YOW	2	4	2	4	4	1	2	4	10.5
6	The Muppet	3	4	4	3	4	2	3	4	10.5
7	jaredoflondon	2	4	3	4	4	1	4	2	15
8	Doogie2K	4	2	4	3	4	3	2	4	15
9	Anshu	2	4	2	4	4	1	4	3	15
10	PPP	1	4	4	2	2	4	4	2	16.5
11	Duff	3	4	1	4	4	2	1	4	16.5
12	David Johnson	4	3	4	2	4	2	4	2	16.5
13	Chemmy	4	2	4	2	4	2	4	3	16.5
14	Gareth	4	3	4	3	4	2	4	2	18
15	Dare	4	2	4	2	3	4	3	4	18
16	Bring Back Bowness	4	2	4	2	4	3	4	3	18
17	matt Stroud	4	2	4	2	4	3	4	3	18
18	Wavetank	3	4	3	4	4	3	4	3	18
19	Mr. Plank	4	2	4	3	4	2	4	2	19.5
20	Don	4	2	3	4	3	4	2	4	21
21	GeeIWonder	2	4	2	4	3	4	4	3	21
22	DHS	3	4	2	4	3	4	4	2	24
23	Jay Jardine	4	1	0	4	3	4	3	4	28.5
	Total picks	10	13	14	9	17	6	13	10

Overall standings:

1	Yoda	19.5
2	NCNM	27.5
3	steved	28
4	The Muppet	28.5
5	Chemmy	29.5
6	Doogie2K	30
7	jaredoflondon	31
8	Don	31
9	PPP	31.5
10	DC in YOW	32.5
11	Duff	32.5
12	THM	33.5
13	Dare	34
14	Wavetank	34
15	Anshu	35
16	David Johnson	35.5
17	Mr. Plank	37.5
18	matt Stroud	38
19	GeeIWonder	40
20	Gareth	42
21	Jay Jardine	43.5
22	Bring Back Bowness	46
23	DHS	46

Pick Me

Sounds like Brunnstrom could make a decision tomorrow. Sounds like the Leafs have a decent shot if you believe this story.

My favourite quote:
'He'd fit right in with our player group,' says Fletcher of the highly coveted free agent.

No shit. Any player with any kind of upside whatsoever pretty much fits in these days.

Standing room only

One of the things I found cool about the quadruple-OT in Dallas last night was how many fans stood up through the whole game. Many at home were probably yelling "down in front", particularly when play went along the near side wall (Detroit's another one of those arenas where standing fans and cotton candy slabs obscure the broadcast).

However, I thought it would be great if more crowds got into this habit (at least for big overtime games). Am I the only one who feels cramped and constrained by the meager elbow and knee room in most stadiums? There's also less up and down movement required when a goal is scored, minimizing spillage, and the disruption due to latecomers to an aisle is greatly reduced.

If you think about it, sitting for five hours (not including the traffic / travel to get there and back) would have been like driving from Ottawa to Toronto in a Ford Festiva. Remaining standing was probably the only way to keep the blood flowing.

Better than talking about Alfie's golf game....

BoO alumnus Chris Selley with a good take on the Habs ouster.

Updated BoO Playoff Standings

I figured this is a good time to post the current rankings. *insert sheepish grin here*

So long, and thanks for all the BBQ'd cop cars...

[via Pensblog]

Well, the last Canadian team finally bit it, and I couldn't be happier. The mad cult cheering for the cup to return "home" may never get it, but I'll give it a try: Enduring the relentless hype and bandwagon fandom a Canadian cup run would draw is one thing, but can you imagine if it's one of the other two teams in your own division? Seriously picture that - going into eight games next season hearing "in town to visit the defending Stanley Cup champs / hosting the defending Stanley Cup champs", watching the opening night ceremonies, seeing that banner in the rafters...

Hopefully upon sober reflection, the people wanting to cheer for a Canadian team will come to realize the ongoing World Championship satisfies their needs quite adequately.

As for me, I will continue to cheer for the Cup to wind up in as far away and obscure a market as possible (Dallas works for me) and look to 2008-09. The Northeast division is going to be an interesting race indeed.

Was Tucker Almost A Sen?

Near the bottom of this article, from the Toronto Star.

By the sounds of the rest of the article Ottawa may have their chance come the summer.

Sundin Throws Down

Oh to be a 37 year old multi-millionaire.
Well done Mats, she's a looker.