On The Eve of the New Season: North of the Border Editio

[vansmack]

Originally posted by sweetcell:
  anyone else aghast at the finals schedule?  game 1 next monday?!?  games only mondays, wednesdays and saturdays?!?

It poses many problems for me as well.  I have a flight booked during game 4 and a wedding during game 6 (!!!).  If I weren't in the wedding I'd come down with a mystery illness for sure.
 
 
 Mon May 28, 2007
 Senators @ Ducks  8:00 PM ET (VS)
         
 Wed May 30, 2007
 Senators @ Ducks  8:00 PM ET (VS)  
   
 Sat Jun 2, 2007
 Ducks @ Senators  8:00 PM ET (NBC)
         
 Mon Jun 4, 2007
 Ducks @ Senators  8:00 PM ET (NBC)
 
 Wed Jun 6, 2007
 Senators @ Ducks  8:00 PM ET (NBC)
 
 Sat Jun 9, 2007
 Ducks @ Senators  8:00 PM ET (NBC)
         
 Mon Jun 11, 2007
 Senators @ Ducks  8:00 PM ET  (NBC)

[vansmack]

Originally posted by sweetcell:
  i have a friend who can hook you up with some ambien...
 
 sweet dreams, smakie    
 

That's a lot of smack for a guy who's first post in this thread at the start of the season was...
 
 
 

Originally posted by sweetcell:
  i think you meant to have that under your "wishful thinking" category... ottawa in the finals involves the Sens doing well in the playoffs - something those chokers are unable to do, ever      
 

[sweetcell]

ok, the jury is in: the schedule SUCKS.
 
 had they stuck to the traditional schedule (game 1 this saturday), it would have been the sens' friend - just enough rest for them and not enough for the opponent.  now it's their enemy: the sens will not have played a game for NINE DAYS by the time the puck drops on monday.  now the ducks will have just enough rest, while the senators will have too much rust.  grumble grumble...
 
 should be a great series!

[sweetcell]

Originally posted by vansmack:
  That's a lot of smack for a guy who's first post in this thread at the start of the season was...

yeah yeah, busted.  have you been keeping track of the sens' post-season record for the last 5-6 years?  can you blame me for being sceptical that early on?  year after year, they finished first or second in their division... and not a finals apperance to show for it.
 
 but i did leave myself a small out in the last part of this post:
 
 

Originally posted by sweetcell:
   

Originally posted by xcanuck:
  What a first night. Sens spanked the Pens (don't let the score fool you), though the Pens PK was pretty good.

bah, same as every year - they'll flame out in the second round (this from someone who grew up in the national capital region).  then again, the colts were famous for chocking during the playoffs and they went all the way this year... [/b]

[vansmack]

Originally posted by sweetcell:
 
 but i did leave myself a small out in the last part of this post:
 

Hey, I don't mind you jumping on the wagon.  I'm sure there's plenty of room for all 31 Million of ya!

[sweetcell]

Originally posted by vansmack:
 Hey, I don't mind you jumping on the wagon.  I'm sure there's plenty of room for all 31 Million of ya!

ouch.  and here i was throwing jibes while trying to keep it civilized...  remember, you were the one who said you wouldn't be sleeping if the ducks made it      
 
 can you blame a country for backing one of its teams, playing its national sport in which it is losing teams (and generally has an inferiority complex), when it hasn't won a championship in 14 years?
 
 four more days 'til the show-down starts... AAAARRRRGGG!!!

[xneverwherex]

Originally posted by sweetcell:
   

Originally posted by xneverwherex:
  well this sucks! I will only get to see one game. maybe 2 if im pushing it. assuming saturday's game is a day game - where is a great place to watch in the DC area. I know this was posted somewhere else, but maybe some kind soul will post it again or invite me over      

[xcanuck]

Originally posted by sweetcell:
 can you blame a country for backing one of its teams, playing its national sport in which it is losing teams (and generally has an inferiority complex), when it hasn't won a championship in 14 years?

Unless you consider the fact that Anaheim has more Canadians on their roster than Ottawa does. If you count the number of active Canadian players, it's roughly 16-12 for the Ducks.
 
 So this whole thing about "Canada's team" really kind of irks me. Who should we - as a nation - cheer for? The team with the most Canadians? Or the team geographically based in Canada? It seems like a silly argument to me. The league is still approximately 55% Canadian and that's not bad for a country of 31 million.
 
 I'll cheer for Ottawa for two reasons. One - I lived there for 10 years and my family still lives there. I love to go back home and feed off the energy of the Sens fans. Two - I love the makeup of this team, their grit and determination. Whether it's Alfie and his dogged persistence even after being slammed in the media year after year...or Volchenkov blocking shots left, right and centre...hoping the Heatly wins one for Dan Snyder... Go Sens Go!!!!

[sweetcell]

it's not where the team is located, it's where the Cup will spend the rest of the year    
 
 (yes, i know, "when not in the hall of fame", which is in Chrahna...)

[vansmack]

Excellent.  A divided Canada can only play to the Ducks favor....

[sweetcell]

Originally posted by vansmack:
  Excellent.  A divided Canada can only play to the Ducks favor....

a divided canada?  how about a divided defense that gave up two turnover goals?      
 
 great game.  other than the last two or three minutes of the third period, i felt emery was the better goalie... but giguere came through when it mattered.  great flurry to end the game, ottawa came very close.  ducks' defense was damn solid, kept the sens' first line in check rather effectively.  anaheim took some stupid penalties.  the last few minutes of the first period were torture, almost caused me to have indigestion - sens were lucky to hit the locker room with a tie, looked like it was going to be worse.
 
 i watched the game at bugsy's - HIGHLY recommended.  good crowd, solid pizza, and molson on tap.  can't wait for game 2!

[vansmack]

Sorry I'm late to this conversation - I slept like a baby last night and decided to even sleep in a little.
 
 5 on 5 hockey was men among boys.  When Ottawa tried to come out in the first period and play physical, it was exactly what I wanted to see.  You can't play a more physical game than these Ducks.  There was one stretch in the third where Pronger, Neidermier, Pahlsson and Moen simply stood at the Ottawa blue line and kept throwing the puck and the Sens back in their own zone like a one sided game of red-rover. It was silly.  I'm pretty sure Cami Granato was on the ice in a Sens jersey last night, it was so ridiculous.  
 
 I'm a little concerned about the Ducks lack of discipline coupled with some dubious calls (like the phantom call on Pronger with less than a minute left), but as this series rolls on, the Ducks physical style is most certainly going to wear on the Sens.  I'm cautious because it was only one game, but I'm feeling really good right now.

[vansmack]

That was cute.  All those little Senators gave it everything they had last night and still lost 1-0.  Why they've insisted on playing a physical game with the Ducks I will never know.  It should be clear by now that they can't do that for a full three periods.
 
 Spread it around, use your speed and superior stick handling skills and try to beat the Ducks based on their over agressiveness.  You can't take it to them, especially if you play in the sissy Eastern Conference.

[sweetcell]

hi,
 
 if anyone has seen my senators, could you please let them know that we miss them and they really should call if they're going to take off like that?  they appeared to have gotten lost on the way to anaheim - they didn't show up last night.
 
 thanks,
 a concerned fan

[vansmack]

Yep.  I saw Murray change the lines up in the first period and thought it wreaked of desperation.  
 
 With Spezza and Heatley paired with Chris Neil and Alfredsson with the Fischer line, I realized that again the Sens were trying to go pound for pound with the Ducks.  All that did was create more turnovers because the Sens were lured into a false sense of space, supposedly created by Neil or Fischer.  They tried to skate through the bigger Ducks which is a mistake.  Find the next pass, wait for the hit, make the pass to open space and move the puck around quickly.  They haven't done that, instead opting to try to bounce off the Ducks, which 9 times out of 10 left them flat on their backs.
 
 Keep hope though - I do remember the Ducks being down 0-2 in a finals and forcing a game 7 in New Jersey in '03, but the Ducks certainly weren't as badly out-hit, out-hustled, and outplayed as the Sens have been.  It will be intersting to see what happens when Carlysle has to think first in Ottawa.