It bears noting that the pizza Petr Sykora scarfed down between overtimes for some quick energy before scoring the game-winner for the Pittsburgh Penguins came from Dominos and not Little Caesars, the chain owned by Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch.
Of course, that's about as close as it gets to controversial in a Stanley Cup final where the teams are captained by Sidney Crosby and Nicklas Lidström.
The Penguins had 32 shots on goal in a 5 1/2-period game -- shades of pre-lockout hockey -- and they won. Is this Stanley Cup final really going to a Game 6? Never before have two uneven teams been so close to being all even.
(Excuse the ambivalence... it really looked the season was going to be over, and now there will be one more game of Detroit and Pittsburgh trading trapping schemes, all while everyone tries to pretend that the league is doing boffo ratings on NBC and that about eight U.S.-based teams aren't flirting with fiduciary catastrophe. God, wouldn't have it been nice for Gary Bettman, Mr. Shootout, to get booed presenting the Stanley Cup after a game that dragged on through multiple overtimes in part since unpenalized hooking and holding seems to have made a comeback.)
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yep, that's why I sit up until 1 am, to watch the refs put the whistle in their pockets and 4th line players goon the stars. NHL at its best.
The comment on CBC from Nicklas Lidstrom I want to hear as he lifts the cup is, "this is all due to hard work, putting the visor down, filling my pockets with fresh eggs and have enough skill to play a full game, in corners and outside, and keep the eggs fresh." Said in French of course with the goof Cherry standing there in one of his clown outfits. (yes, I'm from Sweden originally)
Speaking of hockey and ridiculous changes, The city of Kingston have a new survey out about road hockey and the new proposed by laws.
http://www.cityofkingston.ca/residents/recreation/streethockey/index.asp
Fill in the survey so the Big Harv and co. Can not listen and do whatever they want.
I thought it was a hell of a hockey game. There was plenty of end-to-end action, great goaltending, lots of shots, and a good dose of physical play. (If you think that was clutch-and-grab, I invite you to go watch a tape of the Devils circa 1995. There is no comparison - virtually all of the waterskiing, hold ups and pick plays have been eliminated from the game. You can't keep voicing the same complaint without actually comparing it to something tangible.)
Hockey fans are an interesting bunch in that it seems to be de rigeur to dump all over the game and league they spend so much time covering. It's almost like a contest - "Oh yeah? You think the game sucks? Well, I think it REALLY sucks! How's that?" I'll dump on it when it deserves to be dumped on, but I thought last night's game was terrific. If you didn't like that game, then you really don't like hockey.
The hooking and holding does have a long way to go to reach 1995 levels, but let's just say it's at its highest since the lockout ended.
Pittsburgh had 32 shots, which averages out to less than 20 over a regulation game. Here's hoping Detroit wins 8-0 in Game 6.
I also thought it was a heck of a game to watch, with plenty of exciting action at both ends. The shot total was not indicitave of the flow of the game.
It seems to me that fans will complain about the refs no matter what. Here we are, the STANLEY CUP FINALS, IN TRIPLE OVERTIME WITH THE CUP ON THE LINE, and people wanted more penalties called? Most of the time hockey watchers are saying, "let the players decide the freaking cup."
If you wear striped clothes, you just can't win. In hockey or in life. . .
Well, if Dert and Dennis are each casting dissenting votes, then obviously I was in a prickly mood at about 2 a.m. last night. It was an OK game, for sure, but damn, it would have been better if Detroit had managed to score the winner.
It's cutting into the MFM (McGuire-Free Months).
Can I ask an honest question? How is a referee making an arbitrary decision to allow certain rule infractions to go without penalty "letting the players decide things."
If it's against the rules, the referee knows it's against the rules and decides to ignore it because it wasn't really that much against the rules, then, really, isn't that a situation a bit closer to "letting the ref decide things."
Letting the players decide it would involve awarding teams that force their opponents to foul them. Crazy, I know, but...
And, don't get me started on how they call icing.
I never said I personally wanted refs to "let the players decide the freaking cup," I said that's what we hear all the time in offices or radio call-in shows.
My point was that I'm just tired of the referee complaints in general. Calls are going to be missed, phantom calls are going to be made, it's been happening for 100 years.
Analyzing every potential hook or hold just saps the fun out of the game for me. I'd much rather talk about Malone's broken beak and the crossbars and posts hit in OT.
Just so we're clear, I'm not trying to take shots at anyone for their own opinions. THat's just mine.
It's cutting into the MFM (McGuire-Free Months).
You know, I was talking to Scotty Bowman the other day, and he said the same thing to me. Mario and Sidney, though, felt differently. Then I ran into Wayne in the hotel lobby, and he said he really enjoyed my segments.
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