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Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucking hell...

The Avs get hit with the mother fucking flu at the worst possible time. Already took out Derick Brassard last game, and they're saying a couple guys may not be good to go.

And here's something REALLY worrisome...the Avs just recalled forward A.J. Greer and goalie Pavel Francouz. The Eagles don't start their playoff series until Friday, so hopefully this is just precautionary because those guys will be vital to that team's postseason.

Oh that sucks donkey! If they're spiteful, they should be sending the sick guys on excursions to cough on all doorknobs the Flames would use. Breathing on everyone at faceoffs, etc.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

I just read that men's facial hair is a hotbed for germs, so hopefully that idiotic Lanny-wannabe that Sam Bennett is sporting has enough contagions in it to take out the Flames for now and the next two seasons.

BTW Chris/Jay, both of you have seen a lot more of Travis Hamonic than I have...has he always been this big a shitbag? I get annoyed with post-whistle scrums in front of the net, but Hamonic is taking it to a ridiculous level. They can be behind the net and he's busy trying to shove a guy's head into the glass. He'd better watch himself--he's got a history of concussions and missed major time after hurting himself in a fight, don't know why he'd be so stupid as to try and start shit. He's also quite liberal with the stick when guys blow past him, which has happened a fair bit in this series thus far.

I love that he has that charity that helps kids who lost their fathers early on in life like he did, but yeesh...it's hard for me to like this guy on the ice. He's actually annoying me more than frickin' Tkachuk (but not Bennett...that troll is on another level).

Fresh back from the game. Should have been 9-1 Avalanche without Mike Smith tonight.

Now my personal take after seeing 2 games in 3 days. Here I go......


The Flames have been thoroughly outplayed. Abysmal play on the puck. I have never seen a WINNING team in the playoffs glide around the ice stationary waiting for other people to make plays. Small 2 foot passes, drop passes to no one, no layers, lack of team support, swarming on the puck without purpose or effect...I could really go on and on. I would love to credit Colorado but I just can't because the Flames have the potential to win if they just moved and exhibited effort.

Sam Bennet is a complete bust. He runs around looking for hits putting his team in terrible circumstances without thought. The top line is way too weak on the puck. Johnny is clearly not designed for playoff hockey nor is anyone else on that line.

Rasmus Anderson....if that f'n guy enters the zone and then dumps laterally again to no one I will surely break another TV.

The D...don't even get me started....they can't close off to the wall or stop cuts to the net. When they do they tend to group in a random area and allow up top chances while abandoning their assignments.

Poor Mike Smith (I never thought I would say this) has done everything in his power to help this team win only to be failed completely by everyone in front of him.

The fans in Colorado continued their wretched assault in the bathroom, in the food lines and in the seats. I told my wife I will never see another game again outside of a private area. Very bourgeious of me but that's the way it is.

Stick a fork in the Flames....its over.

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Now for the Avs. MacKinnon is a f'n monster. Everytime he touches the puck there is panic from the Flames.

Ian Cole IMO has been also a monster and an unsung hero. He's solidified an otherwise pedestrian D and his leadership is invaluable to the team.

Grubuaer.....Wow...what can I say...that stop on Backlund where he lifted his leg just a few inches was the stuff of cup legends.

Makar although stripped a few times recovered well and moved his way up the D pairiings.

The rest of the team displayed heart and moved their feet effectively. You can see they are a team that had to fight to enter the dance and they've continued their strong end of season play. I will enjoy watching them in the next round.

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FINAL THOUGHTS. Playoff hockey is not cute and its not fancy. Its mucking and grinding and hard work. From what I have seen the Flames are not up to the task. Gut check coming on Friday night.

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I think he's stepped up his "agitator" antics. With the Isles, he would certainly get involved in post-whistle scrums, but he was usually just defending a teammate when doing so. I don't recall him going after people all that often. But he was definitely quite tough. When it became official the Isles were playing the Pens, Isles fans were wondering who would take over Hamonic's role of physically dealing with Malkin. And now that I write that, I guess Hamonic was sometimes an aggressor in scrums. He did a LOT to piss Malkin in particular off over the years. But at least he'd back up the shit he started. He wasn't one to start things and disappear into the pile, like Clutterbuck does.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

1. That top line is not ever going to win a SC. They'd be a very good 2nd line on a SC contender but they'll scare no one as a 1st line. I'm afraid Calgary is destined to be nothing but competitively good but not ever great for a long time. They are young but just not enough elite talent to take them far.

2. How many TV's have you broken in your life?

3. Holy crap was Mike Smith good last night.

4. If Mike Smith continues to play like that you can't count them out.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

Good for Mike! He's always been a gamer. When it comes to goalies, you never know who's going to step up in the playoffs.

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I can only remember one, the colouring book incident! Legend.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1377&p=14664&hilit=tv+armor#p14664

This thread mentions an earlier attempt with a beer bottle that a different TV survived.

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Thanks Chuck, E.L. and Harmy!

I think I already mentioned the "Broncos Brick" a while back Jay, maybe I need to get you one but with Flames colors.

That really sucks that you got razzed again. I can't fucking stand that aspect of sports culture. I've honestly butted heads way more with meathead Avs fans than I have with fans of other teams. More often than not we just end up having a good conversation. I just don't get why it's gotta be so personal, and sometimes violent. It's a fucking game, one that has literally NO bearing on your personal life. Grow the hell up, people.

As for the game...

1. Anyway...I honestly thought this series was headed to a tie when Derek Ryan scored that goal to make it 2-0. Avs played an okay first, then took a pair of idiotic penalties in the 2nd and gave up the game's first goal, then proceeded to absolutely tank it for half a period. Grubauer kept it from being about 4-0 during that stretch where the Flames' relentless forecheck was pinning the Avs back but hard. But then, Bednar switched the lines, put the big three back together and they began pushing back big-time...and then they had one bad shift, one terrible Mikko Rantanen pass to an unaware Sven Andrighetto, and Valimaki puts it on net and Ryan puts the rebound past Gru. But I will give 'em credit, they didn't relent, kept going at it, and J.T. Compher once again comes through in the clutch. After that it just felt like they were gonna tie this thing up, and they did.

2. A.J. Greer take warmups because at least one player was a game-time decision. They didn't outright say it but we all know that guy was Mikko Rantanen. That's how close he was to not playing. And to be honest, he had kind of a rough outing early on, just didn't have the speed to really move the way he usually does with the puck...but then he shut everyone up, including me, with two goals to tie it and win it.

3a. Cale Makar played, like, 18 minutes last night, in his second-ever NHL game. Now THAT is the Jared Bednar I know and love. Most other NHL coaches, including Mike "Tie Goes to the Veteran" Babcock would be spoon-feeding him ice time. And...my God, I know it's a ridiculously small sample size, but for one shift in OT Nathan MacKinnon and Makar were holding serve in the Flames' zone and honestly they were zipping around and deftly moving the puck so quickly the Flames could do NOTHING to even touch them. And this was GAME TWO, these guys were already clicking, just wait until Makar really gets his rhythm going.

3b. Someone actually brought a head of kale to the game to use as a pom-pom.

4. As for the Flames...I'm not necessarily laying the blame at Johnny Hockey's feet. The Avs are being merciless with him, but something is seriously WRONG with Sean Monahan. Apart from a rebound goal he has been virtually invisible. Is he hurt again!? I just don't know. If he were a bigger factor the Avs would have to back off of Gaudreau to focus more on him, but right now they don't have to.

5. Everyone knows I'm a big Mikael Backlund backer, but he's having an absolutely MISERABLE series. He failed to stop Makar when the rookie came in and scored his first NHL goal in game three, he took a penalty in the 3rd that led to the game-tying goal in game four, and he was the guy trying to stop Rantanen when the latter fired the one-timer rocket past him and Smith to win it. He also had the OT winner on his stick, and Grubauer came through with that miracle save. I honestly don't think he's playing that badly either.

6. Both goalies have been phenomenal. It's taken almost perfect shots and setups to beat Smith. I could do without the dramatic flopping all over the place but hey, goalies are an eccentric bunch. Avs have put over 100 shots on goal in the last two games. That's insane he's let in so few. I'm guessing he may have earned himself another contract.

7. Don't know why they didn't make the switch from Fantenberg to Valimaki sooner. Last time I saw Juuso he was a force, and he made his presence known right away, moving the puck out of the zoen efficiently and also setting up what ended up being the 2-0 goal.

Anyway...the Avs have proven numerous times that a 3-1 lead in a postseason series don't mean shit if you don't keep your foot on the gas. Get it done, play your game, and do not let up, because I guarantee the Flames will be pulling out all the stops. I expect the chippiest of chippy contests. They're going to be hitting everything in sight and doing everything they can to throw the Avs off-balance. Don't get reeled in...play your game and continue to just get shots off early and often, stay efficient in the defensive zone, and for fuck's sake QUIT TAKING TOO MANY MEN PENALTIES.

No matter what happens, I think I can say the Avs have made progress toward the goal of being a contender, which is all I've asked for this past decade or so. So many times before they made a monster fluke run to the postseason, petered out in the first round, and did jack shit the next season. This time, they've made the playoffs two consecutive years, and whereas they won two games in a series against a top seed, this time they've won three. That's progress, however incremental. I'll still be disappointed if they don't close this series out, but whatever may come from this point, we can't say this season wasn't an unmitigated success.

Yeah I don't know....I am just not used to this in Denver. I've lived here for over 20 years now and I've attended plenty of games wearing an opposing sweater. It was even worse last night....mind you I was in the Club level where usually the rabble aren't, it was fuck you Flames fan, Did you sit down to Pee, Does that C stand for Cock, some more fuck you Flames fan you piece of shit....and that was just in the hallway, food lines, bathrooms of the Club Level.

We had a drunk 25 year old, out of shape hockey journalism professional directly behind us whose best year of his life was in 2001 when he was 6 (he said so quite loudly). He was obnoxious, loud and seemed to never shut up (reminded me of a past family member), he kept shaking that f'n pom pom next to my head a few times and scream cursing the Flames.....occasionally he would make shitty comments that were directed at me to try and provoke some type of response.

The sad part is that he was fairly knowledgeable about hockey and I actually enjoyed listening to some of his comments when he was using his inside voice and not being a complete douche bag.

The usher kept coming down to stare at me for some reason....probably because he recognized the douchery level behind me (or maybe he just really liked my retro Calgary Fleury jersey). I retained my composure as I knew it would only be worse if I showed any affect and I would be thrown out, not them (witnessed the crowd getting off on that Monday). Young harmfuljays would have had a go of that fool behind me so I suppose there's been growth along my years.

Seriously......the line to the pisser was incredible and there was some super drunk 20 something yelling at a guy going in to his suite wearing a stars jersey..........They don't even play tonight you f'n moron....get the fuck out of here. Oh yeah they did play and they whooped that ass so good on that guy for representing and just being a hockey fan in general.

I told my wife that's the last time I go outside of a suite.......and as I said yeah that sounds elitist but I am too old and cranky to deal with that shitty behaviour. I paid good money to enjoy that game too so I'll pay a bit more to separate myself from these ass clowns IF and WHEN I ever decide to go again.

Maybe this happens everywhere now and its a generational issue. Don't know but these were my experiences.

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The dark days of the 90s.....This incident occurred during the 7 game series against the Sharks in 1995......If you all remember or maybe you don't, the Flames struggled for years getting bounced in the first round repeatedly and Semis after winning the cup. This series was the second year in a row that they finished 1st and got dismissed in 7. Cycles are a beautiful thing! Back then we had no such thing as "flat screens."......they were all indestructible tube TVs.

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The bad part about your favorite team losing is that it whittles the fanbase down to the freaky extremist nut-jobs who treat their undying devotion to a shitty team like martyrdom, and they lash out at any perceived "enemies" and others who are not "true fans." And the Avs have done plenty of losing, so the douchebags who've "been there the whole time" are proudly standing on their rock and bellowing obscenities because they think they've earned it somehow.

They are absolutely THE WORST part of sports.

So the guy behind you was a journalist? I hope it wasn't THIS guy, I'd be very disappointed if so. I'm guessing not since AJ would likely be in the press box.

I've had very mixed experiences being an opposing fan at a game. I've always been told Boston fans are insane and horrible to opposing fans. Granted, I was always told this by Ranger fans, who as you'll see here, are often complete and total dicks. But I went to an Isles-Bruins game years ago in Boston and everyone around us was pretty cool. When the Bruins scored I expected to get lambasted, but there was some pretty good natured jeering, stuff like "hey Isles fan, ya see that?"

Phoenix-I went there in 1996, and most fans didn't realize it would be cold in an arena holding an ice rink, so they're not really worth discussing. And they were too confused by the rules of hockey to be bothered giving us shit for the Isles blowing a 3-0 lead to finish in a 3-3 tie.

NYC- some Rangers fans over the years were kind of cool. But a few years ago we brought my wife's cousin (from Ireland) to her first hockey game. Happened to be Rangers-Caps game 6. The Caps won to force a game 7, so tensions were bound to be kind of high, but we sat next to some Caps fans, wearing their bright red jerseys... It was like having a target. They had food thrown at them, all kinds of insults and a few threats too. They stood up to cheer a Caps goal and the guy behind them screamed at jet engine volume "sit da fuck down you mothafuckin cock suckaaaaaaaaaaaaaas!" The 3 kids were totally stunned. They expected some fun taunts and joking around. Clueless. When the Caps sealed it, someone whipped a FULL beer bottle at them (while running out of the arena). The fucking bottle hit ME, and the dick who threw it was lucky there was a huge crowd between us because I fully intended to kick him down the huge staircase at MSG, and had it all planned in my head. For the record, when the surrounding Ranger fans found out we're Isles fans they asked why the hell we were there. I said "Rangers are in the playoffs and the Isles are golfing. She's seen plenty of golf in Ireland." People laughed at that, so all was cool between us and the Ranger fans.

But when I was 13 my father and I went to MSG for a Ranger-Isles game. I had on an Isles hat. The scummy Ranger fans next to me tapped me on the shoulder during the anthem. When I looked over one guy unsheathed a "knife" that would make Crocodile Dundee jealous, while his friend told me they'd gut me right there in the stands if I didn't keep my "disgusting Islander fag" hat off. Now, there are lots of dumb threats like "I'll kill you" made during fan altercations. But when the person shows you they've got the means to carry out their threat, and you're 13, that's a different story. So that's one of the reasons I hate Ranger fans. I know, those snaggle toothed fucks weren't the average Ranger fan, especially not today when tickets cost a mortgage payment. My father is pretty much deaf, so he had no idea about this event. Still doesn't. He's not the type of person to do anything, other than maybe talk to security. But like Jay alluded to, arena staff almost always kick out the opposing fan, not the home team fan. No matter the reason or guilt of the two sides. I've seen Ranger fans throw stuff at Isles fans and the Isles fan got kicked out. The whole arena cheers as they get pulled by security, pleading their case that they paid and are just trying to enjoy the game. Doesn't matter.

Sorry to hear you had to put up with that shit Jay. People suck. I always look at opposing fans like slightly misguided kindred spirits, who love our game, just not the right team. Except Flyers fans. Fuck those assholes!

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

oh yeah....I am over it now. I agree it could have been more violent so I am thankful for that. I am a good sized male with resting bitch face so most of that shit came from afar or among young male mobs. I erred on the side of caution and I did not cheer nor applaud Flames goals. In fact I did nothing but wear a jersey to provoke those responses. I know how far to push the envelope back East (example wearing Yankees gear to Fenway....uh NO). Still disturbing that this behaviour has made it out to Denver finally (and now I know). Definitely going to blame it on all the influx of coast culture in the past 10 years.

No wonder the Romans used that shit for years as a distraction for the masses! Look we're fucking you but here is a distraction to focus your frustration on!


Flames are going to need a big game tonight to turn the tide and stay alive.....track record doesn't indicate that they are good at this.

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Nebraska fans are usually well-known for their class and chill. It's very common to see fans from visiting schools tailgating alongside die-hard Husker folks. Recent years though, the losing has taken its toll. The one and only time I ever got season tickets the most obnoxious screaming lady was in the row behind us, one time she wanted to start shit with a guy a couple rows ahead of us rooting for the other team (and FTR was super-nice and simply minded his own business) because he had the audacity to wear a red hat.

Anyway, yeah, fans suck ass sometimes, and I wish teams and leagues would be way more direct in dealing with toxic fan culture. the Advent of social media has only emboldened people, as you can see with the rather terse interactions between fans and some NBA stars. I get everyone's competing for butts in the seats but I think if you take the toxic dudebros out and try to keep ever-rising prices under control, you'll get even more people willing to go to games. Winning kinda helps too!

It also doesn't help when people whine incessantly on radio and online about how Hawks fans "take over" the Pepsi Center. Get over it. If they paid for the ticket, they can do whatever the hell they want. You want more "local" fans in the seats, quit charging as much and above all, quit letting scalpers snag the tickets first. But what this does is automatically villainize fans of visiting teams.

Now, I've seen obnoxious dudebros in visiting jerseys whoop it up and act like pricks too, but the best thing to do is just fucking ignore them. The guy in Patriots gear at a Broncos game I went too a long time ago got his just desserts watching his team eventually get thwacked and he quietly exited after being a dick to anyone within shouting distance for the first quarter. FTR I don't think even if someone acts up that they should ever be subject to beer showers or any form of violence.

Anyhow, I'd like to believe the majority of Avs fans are decent folks who just want to root for their own team. Most I've interacted with are good folks, it's too bad the few bad apples really mess things up. I can still remember all of us in the nosebleeds watching the Oilers and Avs go at it, Butch was doing his best wrestling heel-act, but he had most everyone laughing their asses off (DWAYNE CANNOT BE BEAT!!! ). Now that was fun.

Anyway, that's my last screed on toxic fan culture for now. I'm hoping the Avs close it out because it's gonna trigger my Avs fandom PTSD if they don't. The Knights just proved last night you can't let your foot off the gas.

I would be shocked if the Flames don't squeak out a win tonight. Smith's been amazing and they've been far too good all season to go out with a wimper. You know they will throw in the proverbial kitchen sink on the forecheck tonIght. This has been a very exciting series to watch. My favorite post season series thus far as a neutral observer. Almost more enjoyable to watch from a pure hockey perspective without the gamut of emotions when your team is in the thick of it. So fast and furious with an insane level of skill.

Real Deal James Neal will be watching this one from the press box. Austin Czarnik draws in. Makes sense since it's been muckers like him, Hathaway, and Mangiapane giving the Avs the most trouble.

I don't think there are any lineup changes for the Avs.