2013 NHL thread

[TheLionKing]

Chicago forced a game 7 on Sunday with a 4-3 come from behind victory over Los Angeles. Patrick Kane with the winner. He's money when it comes to clutch goals.

[WestCoastJoe]

Good. The Kings put a stake through the hearts of the Hawks.

Great respect for Toews. But not exactly a fan. They showed no respect for the Canucks. Put the Hawks up there with the Bruins.

Would not mind seeing Vigneault winning it all.

The Kings have an amazing collection of talent. Size. Skill. Goaltending. All of it. Amazing leadership. Throughout the lineup.

It is hard to see how the Rangers can compete. But they will.

[notahomer]

Good. The Kings put a stake through the hearts of the Hawks.

Great respect for Toews. But not exactly a fan. They showed no respect for the Canucks. Put the Hawks up there with the Bruins.

Would not mind seeing Vigneault winning it all.

The Kings have an amazing collection of talent. Size. Skill. Goaltending. All of it. Amazing leadership. Throughout the lineup.

It is hard to see how the Rangers can compete. But they will.

Win/Win from my perspective. Mitchell or AV get themselves a ring. As long as it wasn't the Hawks, I'm

[TheLionKing]

Best part of tonight's game is that we don't have to listen to Bob Cole again. He broadcast his last game.

[Toppy Vann]

Best part of tonight's game is that we don't have to listen to Bob Cole again. He broadcast his last game.

These old throwback guys might miss things and screw things up but I'm old enough to recall that despite these issues these guys are more than nice smooth tv and radio voices but guys who lived and breathe these sports.

Foster Hewitt was a legend on radio and his reputed coverage of the Leafs games despite Montreal being THE power house led to Canadians outside of la Belle Province loving them Leafs. Bert Olmstead - then with the Habs - would come back to their prairie farm and hear nothing of the Habs but how great the Leafs despite Montreal winning the cup. They said there were two games when Hewitt called the play on radio: The game on the ice and the other one he'd broadcast to radios across Canada.

LA got a goal off DEF that to me should have not been blocking his Goalee. He seemed to be puck watching and while goal side of the LA forward was nothing more than the guy who blocked the vision of his Goalee.

LA won 3 game 7s to get to the finals.

I notice they wore the champions hat and Captain posed for the trophy but didn't host it.

Now on to the Rangers and former Canuck coach Alain "how-you-'Nucks-fans-like-me-now?" Vigneault and the former Torts coached NY Rangers. AV has been all class towards the Canucks and now we know why. He's got a team that has more upside and stability than his former team and he's off to the SC Finals in his first year.

LA - what a team!

[TheLionKing]

LA got a goal off DEF that to me should have not been blocking his Goalee. He seemed to be puck watching and while goal side of the LA forward was nothing more than the guy who blocked the vision of his Goalee.

Martinez's shot wasn't particularly hard but the adage applies: Put it on the net, anything can happen.

[notahomer]

I was NOT a Torts fan when the discussion was about whether he'd be the next Canucks coach last summer. I was dissappointed he got hired. I also feel AV had outlived his time behind the Canucks bench. Sure I'm glad he's made it to another Cup Final but I doubt the Canucks would have made the playoffs with AV behind the bench either. Of course I don't know, no one can.
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I'm just glad that neither of the big cheapshot artist teams, IMO, (Chicago & Boston) made it to be able to win the Stanley Cup. The game winner for the Kings was an ugly one, IMO, but it went in. I wonder how the handshake line went for the two goalies?

[Toppy Vann]

I was NOT a Torts fan when the discussion was about whether he'd be the next Canucks coach last summer. I was dissappointed he got hired. I also feel AV had outlived his time behind the Canucks bench. Sure I'm glad he's made it to another Cup Final but I doubt the Canucks would have made the playoffs with AV behind the bench either. Of course I don't know, no one can.
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I'm just glad that neither of the big cheapshot artist teams, IMO, (Chicago & Boston) made it to be able to win the Stanley Cup. The game winner for the Kings was an ugly one, IMO, but it went in. I wonder how the handshake line went for the two goalies?

You and me both thought Torts would not work out here. The irony was he was pretty okay with the media but seemed disconnected from his team and even the organization.

You are right about the AV usefulness in Vancouver in the sense that it seemed a lot of stories of him letting the "room" control the team and there is nothing worse in sports than an aging core who might be declining in productivity being left to set the team culture. It seems the mix in this team is not quite right.

Not sure they couldn't have made the playoffs with him.

I am sure the Sedins not being used as shot blockers, penalty killers and taking face offs in their defensive zone to the degree that Torts forced this would mean they 'd have been more productive but as you also state NAH - who freaking knows how the season would have played out.

An early exit at least gives them time to get things right. Benning seems a good choice for his zest and nose for talent. I liked one thing Benning has said: the four final teams in the SCF playdowns have one factor in common: They play 4 lines! It is for me bizarre that in hockey at the pro level you'd not use the resources in the team and play 4 lines. How can the 4th line guys ever come to the rink motivated to play knowing that on 90% or more of the nights that they won't play or it will be just a few minutes.

Need to see where they find a coach and if it is the right fit.

[sj-roc]

Best part of tonight's game is that we don't have to listen to Bob Cole again. He broadcast his last game.

At first I thought you meant EVER, but that's apparently not the case as he will be returning next season.

National Post: Hockey Night in Canada’s Bob Cole no closer to retiring despite Rogers takeover: ‘I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t work’

Excerpts:

Bob Cole, who owns perhaps the most distinctive voice in Canadian sports broadcasting, was in Florida on Tuesday, near a beach and near a golf course, but no closer to retiring.

Jim Hughson will be the lead play-by-play voice when Rogers Communications assumes control of National Hockey League rights in Canada next season, with Bob Cole, Dave Randorf and Paul Romanuk also signing on, the company announced Tuesday morning.

...

“I don’t think anybody wants to work as long as I have,” he said over the phone. “But I do. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t work. What would you do?”

...

Cole, who turns 81 this month, has never embraced the idea of retirement, suspecting that a television executive would make the decision on his behalf, some day. That day felt like it was creeping closer last year.

“I was getting a funny feeling from the management of sports at CBC,” Cole said. “I was getting vibes. I don’t know if they had plans for me. It didn’t sound like they did. And so, when Rogers made the announcement that they were taking over, I said to myself, ‘you know what? This is probably good.’”

...

Cole said he has a one-year deal with Rogers, which is fine with him, because he said he has never signed for more than two years at a time. He said his last contract was for two years.

“Other than that, I’ve signed every October,” Cole said on Tuesday. ...

... he was surprised on Sunday night when MacLean announced his new deal on the air, shortly after Hockey Night in Canada signed on for Game 7 of the Western Conference final between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Los Angeles Kings. With Hughson calling the Stanley Cup final, it was Cole’s final game of the playoffs — and without word on whether Rogers was signing him, there was a chance it would have been his final game behind the microphone for a national broadcast.

“They got inundated here, with calls,” Cole said of the CBC. “People were kind of upset that I wasn’t going to be working after [Sunday night]. They decided that they’d better say something.”

Cole has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity over the past few springs, with the power of social media fueling both his ardent fans and legion of critics. It has not been unusual for Cole’s name to trend on the social media website Twitter during games, right alongside the names of the players he is describing.

“You’ve got to be thick-skinned, which I don’t think I am, one-on-one,” he said. “If somebody were to walk up to me and say, ‘you’re just nuts, I don’t know why you got this job.’ I’d have to respond. But if it’s stuff like this, what are you going to do? You’re doing your best.”

He chuckled: “Listen, people criticized Sinatra — you can’t be all that bad.”

Cole said he is not on Twitter, but receives occasional updates from his daughter.

[sj-roc]

The last time the Kings and Rangers faced each other in the Stanley Cup playoffs was 1981. This happened.

[video][/video]

[TheLionKing]

Best part of tonight's game is that we don't have to listen to Bob Cole again. He broadcast his last game.

At first I thought you meant EVER, but that's apparently not the case as he will be returning next season.

National Post: Hockey Night in Canada’s Bob Cole no closer to retiring despite Rogers takeover: ‘I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t work’

Excerpts:

Bob Cole, who owns perhaps the most distinctive voice in Canadian sports broadcasting, was in Florida on Tuesday, near a beach and near a golf course, but no closer to retiring.

Jim Hughson will be the lead play-by-play voice when Rogers Communications assumes control of National Hockey League rights in Canada next season, with Bob Cole, Dave Randorf and Paul Romanuk also signing on, the company announced Tuesday morning.

...

“I don’t think anybody wants to work as long as I have,” he said over the phone. “But I do. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t work. What would you do?”

...

Cole, who turns 81 this month, has never embraced the idea of retirement, suspecting that a television executive would make the decision on his behalf, some day. That day felt like it was creeping closer last year.

“I was getting a funny feeling from the management of sports at CBC,” Cole said. “I was getting vibes. I don’t know if they had plans for me. It didn’t sound like they did. And so, when Rogers made the announcement that they were taking over, I said to myself, ‘you know what? This is probably good.’”

...

Cole said he has a one-year deal with Rogers, which is fine with him, because he said he has never signed for more than two years at a time. He said his last contract was for two years.

“Other than that, I’ve signed every October,” Cole said on Tuesday. ...

... he was surprised on Sunday night when MacLean announced his new deal on the air, shortly after Hockey Night in Canada signed on for Game 7 of the Western Conference final between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Los Angeles Kings. With Hughson calling the Stanley Cup final, it was Cole’s final game of the playoffs — and without word on whether Rogers was signing him, there was a chance it would have been his final game behind the microphone for a national broadcast.

“They got inundated here, with calls,” Cole said of the CBC. “People were kind of upset that I wasn’t going to be working after [Sunday night]. They decided that they’d better say something.”

Cole has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity over the past few springs, with the power of social media fueling both his ardent fans and legion of critics. It has not been unusual for Cole’s name to trend on the social media website Twitter during games, right alongside the names of the players he is describing.

“You’ve got to be thick-skinned, which I don’t think I am, one-on-one,” he said. “If somebody were to walk up to me and say, ‘you’re just nuts, I don’t know why you got this job.’ I’d have to respond. But if it’s stuff like this, what are you going to do? You’re doing your best.”

He chuckled: “Listen, people criticized Sinatra — you can’t be all that bad.”

Cole said he is not on Twitter, but receives occasional updates from his daughter.

NOOOOOOOOOOOO. Please retire and take Cherry with you

[TheLionKing]

Rangers got off to a quick start only to see the Kings come back with 3 straight goals including the winner in overtime to take game 1

[notahomer]

Rangers got off to a quick start only to see the Kings come back with 3 straight goals including the winner in overtime to take game 1

AV is used to quick starts in the Stanley Cup finals. He wants to win the last game......

[Sir Purrcival]

Yeah, I don't think we will be seeing a brawl like that this time around.

[Toppy Vann]

I am glad for Randorf and Paul Romanuk. I wondered why he only does Spengler Cup and read that his wife got a great job offer in London so he felt it was right to follow her thus taking him out of the mix except for his annual sojourn to the Spengler Cup where he does an exceptional job such that I usually watch all Canada games and especially his interviews. The NHL lockout year was super as he was behind the scenes with NHLers like Matt Duchene of Colorado who was talking about how family oriented the Spengler was and that is Romanuk always characterizes it.

Being old I don't mind the Bob Coles as I love those old voices and these guys love for the game that so many of the modern day voices don't seem to really have. They've got the tv or radio voice but not the passion of the older generation that I grew up listening to. Exceptions are guys like Rick Ball who does love the game and football as well as hockey. He is not just the voice type.