OffThePost.org

It's interesting to be on the other side of this, but I get the sense that Boston, with all the public and media pressure on them, as a group is pretty mentally fragile - they can't score to save their lives on the PP, know that the hometown crowd will be all over them if they don't score on the PP, are hoping to play 5-on-5 for the entire game, and now they're also afraid of taking a penalty. Reading between the lines after their win in Game 5, it seemed they were all afraid to lose yet another lead late in the game and were just happy to chip it off the glass and out - Canucks fans are very aware of that feeling... I would not be surprised if Tampa advances if for no other reason than they won't have internalized as much fear as the Bruins.

Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing the Bruins advance, that way there would be a 'new' SC champ this season...

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I'm reading the Bolts will not have their secret weapon, Sean Bergenheim for this one.

But they'll have Teddy Purcell to unleash...

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Tight....tight game....first game without penalties in a number of years. That's the way it should be. B's on!

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"If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story." -Orson Welles

And no scoring either. Fucking clutch and grab is back with a vengeance.

Whatever, I won't sell either team short. They both deserve to be where they are.

On the other hand, I don't care what anyone says, the obvious shit at least needs to be called. regulation or overtime.

don't be a nancy this game had flow and back and forth. No obvious clutch and grab. The boys on both sides behaved themselves. They were allowed to play hockey...what's wrong with that?

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"If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story." -Orson Welles

Flow means nothing if players are hog tied anytime they get anywhere near the net. I will admit most of my vitriol is aimed toward what I saw in most of the Western Conference playoff games, but the whole "let them play" notion behind refs sitting back and doing nothing is so much bullshit IMO. The entire reason the refs enforce rules on obstruction is to "let them play."

It's still better than the Dead Puck Era brand of hockey was, but the NHL needs to quit waffling on the issue and they need to quit putting the entire burden on the refs.

Anyway, I hope this upcoming series is all about speed, brutality, and all the other things I love about the game.

I call total bullshit Harmy ... I agree with Av .. even if he does have the Lightning

at first blush, a game with NO penalties called (even though there was a penalty called and taken back 0 ) would favor the Bruins

however, I have to defer, when Seguin has his man completely beat and gets tackled, that's pretty obvious

when Tampa is allowed to do what they've done all playoffs long, which is block out the offensive player chasing the dump in, that's bullshit

but all that is apparently inconsequential, because for once the best team won

I'm so happy, I could puke!

It is actually a sad day for me ... my nerfherder left for New Mexico today
She stayed at my house last night to shorten her trip by some 2.5 hours, and we (along with another female friend) consumed many beers
I was probably still legally in a coma at puckdrop tonight
after finishing the beers we didn't drink last night, I feel better now
As a going away present to my nerfherder, I took her to Game 5 Canadiens vs. Bruins
It turned out to be the best game I had ever attended in my life
I was holding a piss for 3 periods
Now this ................

All lawyers in Vancouver are miserable - no exceptions.

heh... fixed.

Well I am not going to complain about the outcome. But I will say you can't pound the square peg into the round hole. If Tampa was indeed performing blatant interference and not getting called then Claude needed to make the adjustment.

I really didn't see anything so blatant that required a call in this game. It made for better hockey IMO than game 4 in SJ or game 6 in tampa. Perhaps someday the NHL will find that balance but until then I'd rather have them stow the whistles than have players diving all over trying to get a call. To each his own.

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"If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story." -Orson Welles

I don't mean to derail this thread, but you seem to think clutch-and-grab hockey and an increase in diving aren't mutually exclusive, when in fact they are. As Paul Kariya once said, "Call the obstruction and the diving will go away." Players feel like they HAVE to embellish or the refs won't do anything. Pocketing the whistle is not the solution to this.

Again, it's one thing to not call the close stuff, but a game 7 of a conference final with two teams known for their physicality and not ONE penalty being called!?!?!? That's fucking bullshit.

Well. Anyway. It's not like one of the two teams had an advantage if the Refs were not going to call any penalties.

Right....

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GO CANUCKS GO!

Personally, I don't think they pay those Refs enough. Nobody is ever happy with their work. All I ask for as a fan is consistency.

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GO CANUCKS GO!

well they're consistently inconsistent aren't they?

true

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GO CANUCKS GO!

From what I saw it looked like Tampa ran out of gas. Their last good push was with a few minutes left in the 2nd period but they couldn't bury. Boston turned the momentum at the end of the period after that push and carried it over into the 3rd. Congrats, Boston!

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Thanks Chuck!

For pete's sake I just said I liked the game and it was tight! I didn't say I wanted an entire league built around it! 1 game without penalties is not going to ruin this European dance so I really don't think the alarm bells need to be so loud.

I think we can find better things to argue about. I don't believe a word said about call the obstruction and the diving goes away. That's fantasy like hockey in Atlanta. Call the Unsportsmanlike and the dive goes away. But to each his own.

Who would have tuned in to a Tampa/Vacouver final? Yeah....that's what I thought. Of course the league wants the B's in there.

One of the best games I have ever watched......well 2004 brings back memories as well......and so does the classic Penalty pile up Avs/Wings. Well it certainly goes in my top 15. Go B's!

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"If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story." -Orson Welles