VTRsurfer

During the Conference Finals, I was actually hoping for Tampa Bay to beat Boston and get into the Cup Final with Vancouver. That would have truly been opposite corners of North America competing for the Stanley Cup.

msethhunter

All I have to say, being an NHL (N for NATIONAL!) fan, is I hope the Bruins get their act together. Why are Canadian teams allowed in a NATIONAL leuge anyways! Might as well call it the IHL and let all nations participate. I was all over it when the Ducks were still in it. But now, I just watch it in passing.

broncsrule21

I'm an Avs fan first and Bruins fan next. I hate Vancouver. Very sad right now because the Bruins are letting it slip away.

NH-Raptor

I chuckle at the guys who say the announcers are bias to the eastern teams because, I as a devoted Bruins fan ( I was actually alive the last time they won the cup), think the exact opposite. Pierre McQuire and Eddie Olczyk hate the Bruins. In the Tampa Bay series they bashed them every chance they got. Jeremy Roenick just blows who ever wins the period and the game. Mike Milbury may be the one guy who fits your description but the guy played for the Bruins and was their coach as well. He may be a bit biased due to those two facts. As far as this series goes, I always thought the Bruins would have a hard time with Vancouver but they aren't getting blown out of the games and it's exciting hockey. They lost the first two games to Montreal this year and came back. GO BRUINS!

tomzxt

I am a proud Tampa Bay Lightning fan since I was in the second grade. When I was little my Dad took me to one game of every major sport in the area. That way I had a chance to decide for myself which one I might like to follow. He did try to sway me with football lol. However, hockey has been my only love. Threw thick and thin I have loved the Lightning all these years. This season when they made it to the conference finals I was freaking out! All the way to game 7 with such a disappointing but glorious end to the playoffs. I am looking forward to next season for sure. In the mean time, I am hoping to get some revenge. Go Canucks!

finepooch

gary buttman is severely usa biased. big time congratulations to winnipeg for getting their rightful place in the nhl back and proving that buttman dip-**** wrong. i never thought i would be a winnipeg fan but i certainly am now. i will be glued to my tv when cbc airs their first game.

poor me. i am a leafs and oilers fan. since 1982 i have liked the canucks. the bruins were always just ok. hate les canadiens.

this finals has been pretty good. goals may be exciting but they are not the only thing. nice plays, up and down, tight scores, tense competition, down to the wire games, this series has had all that. both games have ended withing a half minute of the end of regulation time!

it isn't over yeat. 2-0 is not a safe lead. many 2-0 leads have crumbled. the canucks have choked many a time. keep watching.

D VTR RIDER

By and large, all the series have been excellent. The Canucks Bruins is the best final Ive seen in a long while. Both games were close. Two great teams. You have to love the way Thomas plays and that smile. The guy has fun even when he loses. Luongo has been stellar as well. Completely different styles than Thomas.
I hope the Canucks win. This would be the first for them.
If the announcers are bad, turn the volume off and enjoy the game.

VTRsurfer

As far as the NBC announcers go, I just got tired of them kicking a dead horse, IE: "The Bite". Even after the game they were saying that Burrows shouldn't have been allowed to play, which would have changed everything.

As for the NHL "allowing" Canadian teams, learn your hockey history. The "Original 6" formed the NHL starting in 1942...Canadiens, Maple Leafs, Rangers, Bruins, Blackhawks and Red Wings. There were other teams from both the USA and Canada prior to 1942, but most consider the Original 6 as the start of modern hockey.

And I'm no Canuck, although my wife is. I was born in Los Angeles, 4 years after the formation of the modern NHL, but I didn't know what hockey was until I was about 20.

My wife's been a major fan since she was about 5, and her alltime favorite players, Whom she used to watch on black and white TV with her Dad, are Rocket Richard and Boom Boom Geoffrion.

mikstr

Study your hockey history there bud.....

Just curious, but what is your opinion on the fact that baseball's top prize is labelled the World Series when there are only American teams (except for the Blue Jays)?

On second thought, don't bother, I have seen enough of your insight already.......

scooter72

I couldnt agree with you more. Being a proud Winnipegger it kicks so much *** to have a team back in our city. It was awesome when they made the announcement...police shut down the busiest intersection in the city for a party and a game of road hockey! Yes Gary Bettman...you can kiss our asses...they sold 13000 season tickets in 3 days. With a 3 year commitment to boot. I'm rooting for the Canucks now, hope they win...it's been awhile since a Canadian team has hoisted the cup. But come next season...GO JETS GO!! (if Bettman lets us keep the old name)

VTRsurfer

I just talked to my wife's sister on the phone (she had a car problem), and she lives in Teulon. She said everybody is just jazzed that Winnipeg is getting a team again. Nobody knows what they will name it yet, but evidently not the Jets.

She also told me that they're losing the Manitoba Moose. They're moving to one of the maritime provinces.

And, of course, we have a Winnipeg connection here in Orange County, since Randy Carlisle coached for the Moose and played for the Jets, as did Teemu.

finepooch

the jets name, buttman is willing to let true north use it. but will they own it? do any nhl teams own their name? they should!

what will be absolute canadian hockey bedlam, in english canada at least, would be if the leafs ever won the cup.

shouldn't they be the leaves?

finepooch

they're supposed to be moving to newfoundland, which is techincally not in the maritimes, but is included in atlantic canada. tricky, i know. btw, i'm impressed someone from california would even have ever heard of the maritimes.

if they move to st. john's the name should stay. newfoundland is pretty much polluted with moose.

atlanta couldn't even support the moose.

scooter72

Ya, the Manitoba Moose will be moving to St.Johns, Nfld and will be Winnipeg's NHL farm team now. Sad to see them go, as they are a great team and had alot of support in this city, but its cool that they'll still be connected to us. Not sure who Vancouver is gonna get for a farm team now though(The Moose were theirs up until now.) As for the Jets name, the NHL does own the name, and supposedly they will allow it to be used, but I honestly think it's doubtful that they will. I think they deserve a fresh start with a new name,tough to say but I honestly feel the Jets name died 15 years ago when we lost them to Phoenix(and everybody knows how great that turned out...thanks again Bettman.)

VTRsurfer

Several years ago my wife's sister sent her a Manitoba Moose T-shirt, with that goofy looking moose on it. She wore it when we went to vote in the 2008 Presidential election, and one of the polling place workers gave her T-shirt a real hard look...obviously thinking that my wife was trying to influence votes by wearing some kind of Sarah Palin paraphernalia.

VTRsurfer

My wife and I vacationed in Nova Scotia about 10 years ago (I'd love to ride Cabot Trail). Our last night was spent in Maitland, since I wanted to see the tides coming off the Bay of Fundy. The owner of the B&B was originally from Newfoundland. She told us a story about her nephew, who had attended college in Newfoundland, and his night time encounter with a bull moose involving his Chevette. He ended up spending the night in a ditch hiding from the moose, which had stuck a hoof through his windshield and got it stuck in the spokes of the steering wheel.

wolfgun

Didn't anybody want to see a Red Wings/Lightning final? I think any fan of Stevie Y. would have appreciated it.

finepooch

the local moto forum here in nb just did a weekend group ride to cape breton, and around the trail. all accounts have been positive. i haven't been around the cabot trail since childhood. i should get off my **** and do it.
fundy tides. in moncton we have the tidal bore(tide rushes up the river). i refer to it as the "total bore"
i still remember the winnipeg jets farm team, the moncton hawks. rick taberacci, bob essensa, kris draper, dallas eakins, claude julien... our high school team shared the home rink, the moncton coliseum. we used to get their hand-me-down sticks!

VTRsurfer

Current rooster for both teams lists US born players:

Boston = 3
Vancouver = 6

And Canadian born players:

Boston = 17
Vancouver = 18

VTRsurfer

Watching the post game show, and I'm disgusted by the comments of the NBC announcers. They are perpetuating the escalating of cheap shots and taunting by Boston (towards Burrows, due to "the bite"). Jeremy Roenick is a moron. They still can't get over the biting of a gloved finger in Game 1.

Hats off to Claude Julien for saying that he doesn't want to see that kind of reaction from his players. He said that he told them so before the game, and he still stands by that.

As for the hit on Horton, it looked like a slightly late hit, then he hit the back of his head on the ice. No head contact on the hit. I hope he's okay. But I heard many times during the regular season, "That's what he gets for admiring his pass, instead of looking down the ice".

Just play hockey. I hope it goes to 7 games, since it's over until October after the Finals.

And the Canucks should have pulled Luongo at 5-1, and given Cory Schneider some time in goal.

nothing

good hockey is all I've got to say, great series.

mikstr

You can add that both head coaches (not sure about their assistants, not important enough to look into it....) are Canadians too..... Sorry there msethhunter....

VTRsurfer

Yeah, I was aware of that as well, but I figured that a 2:1 ratio of US born players made the point. The NHL is truly an international league.

mikstr

Indeed it is.... BTW, my comment was not directed at you, as your knowledge of the game (and openness) is obvious. Rather, I was sending it to the attention of the "hunter", not that his type would even bother to read it......

VTRsurfer

No problem mikstr.

In the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals, my wife was pointing out to her sister in Teulon, Manitoba that the Anaheim Ducks had 18 Canadian players on their roster, verses 14 for the Ottawa Senators. Plus of course, Randy Carlyle as head coach.