So, right now we are in the middle of the NBA and NHL seasons. The Super Bowl is a few days away, and pitchers and catchers meet in a couple weeks.
Basically, right now and especially after the Super Bowl won't be an exciting time in the sports world. Only trades and teams getting hot or cold can make these sports become interesting. March Madness begins shortly, but that is the next big thing (besides this Sunday) that will be exciting in the sports world.
Like I said before, I still think the Packers will win. However, I am a bit depressed at the lack of excitement that will probably take place during the weeks after the Super Bowl and before March Madness, and then after that and before the NBA and NHL playoffs.
I am bored right now before I go out for the night so I felt like venting about the unfortunate break we are forced to take as a sports fan. I hope you can survive. I'll cover the SB later.
As you can tell (above), there were a ton of points (or goals) scored today. I don't really have much to say about the NHL game because I think the captains drafting their teams is a complete joke and the league not taking the game seriously.
I thought the AFC was gonna win the Pro Bowl but it's a game where the players just go through the motions and have fun. St. John's shocked me and the rest of the world by completely owning Duke the entire game. The Big East is ridiculous.
The Heat edged the Thunder is a great game. Kevin Durant looked great as usual but it wasn't enough to get past Wade/LeBron/Bosh.
Kobe is amazingly normal I guess. 16-29 for 42 points. However, he was basically the only offense for the Lakers as Pierce, Allen, Rondo and Garnett were all in double figures for the Celts.
Go to that site and look at Gilbert Arenas' line. He DNP (Did Not Play) for his apparent 'Left Knee CONFUSION'.
They will probably change this as soon as they notice, but I love when things like this get messed up. It's probably from a semester in a news editing class.
This 2011 Winter Classic is proving to be a great game. The Washington Capitals currently lead the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 halfway through the final period of play.
I'm watching with a friend of mine who is a big Caps fan. His dad had tickets to the game, which is being played at Heinz Field, but decided to sell them and watch from home. As a season ticket holder he was given the opportunity to buy them, he did so for $250 per ticket for two seats. He sold the two seats for $700 total only because someone sent him a nice email asking for them as a gift for someone, so he was nice enough to lower the price from $1,000 to $700.
The place is sold out and it's incredible to think that the place is sold out and the tickets are that expensive. There are just over 65,000 seats and imagine how much money was exchanged for all of those seats. Jeez, crazy to think about.
Note: Fehr puts in his second goal of the game on a breakaway with eight minutes left in the game. Caps 3 Pens 1
The game has been fast-paced and hard-hitting. I'm not a huge hockey fan but this is the kind of game someone like me needs to watch to get more into the sport.
Game over, Caps win 3-1.
This is completely unrelated to this post, but it is awesome yet kind of inappropriate. I would be surprised if this guy didn't get fined or punished in some way. If he was on a good team he definitely would be.
Hope you enjoyed it, I certainly did because he came after a Dolphins loss.
Okay, so this post is going to a be a short description letting you know how the world works as of December 2010. Ready, go.
Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera are Yankees
Red Sox trade for Adrian Gonzalez in attempt to keep up with Yankees
Troy Tulowitzki overrated? No sir, best shortstop in the big leagues
Virginia Tech Hokies are ACC Champs having won 11 straight
Oregon and Auburn stay unbeaten and head to BCS National Championship, sorry TCU - not this year...better luck next year in the Big East
Cam Newton is a lock for the Heisman Trophy
Jets and Pats battle Monday night for AFC East supremacy
Ravens and Steelers battle Sunday night for AFC North supremacy
The whole NFC is a complete mess and a .500 or sub-.500 team may win their division
UNC Men's BBall is a joke even though they beat Kentucky by two at home
On the other hand, Duke is playing at the level they are ranked, No. 1
The Heat don't look too hot with their "Big 3"
Why is the Western Conference so much better than the Eastern?
Anyone surprised by New Orleans(13-6) and Utah(15-6), I sure am...
Caps, Pens tied for most points in NHL - surprise surprise...
Why is the Eastern Conference so much better than the Western?
As you can tell, quite a bit is going on in the sports world. Some eyebrow-raising, some not. The point is, it's unpredictable. I love it and I love that Jeter and Mo re-signed. It's no surprise that the Sox gone Gonzalez, but I was hoping SD would keep him. The NFL is beyond nuts and don't get me started on NCAA Basketball. The NHL seems to be the most predictable with the NBA being somewhat surprising. We'll see where we're at in a month or so.
Today we experienced just about everything except the NFL, which of course, is saved for Sundays at this point in the season. Some of the exciting headlines
MLB:
Texas showed no hangover from the heartbreaking loss in game one, dominated game two with a 7-2 victory. The series heads to New York, with Cliff Lee set to pitch...it's getting interesting. Series even at 1-1
Surprisingly enough, this game went over the six runs predicted by the odds makers. More surprisingly, San Francisco came away with a huge upset victory in Philly to take away home-field advantage. San Fran leads 1-0
NCAAF:
1 Ohio State knocked off by 18 Wisconsin. Second consecutive week the No. 1 ranked team has lost.
Un-ranked Kentucky upset 10 South Carolina, un-ranked Mississippi State upset 22 Florida, un-ranked San Diego State upset 23 Air Force
5 Nebraska get completely outplayed and throws away their National Championship hopes with a loss to un-ranked Texas.
Will 3 Boise State jump to No. 1?
NHL:
Caps have early season magic, come back from 2-0 to win 3-2 in OT.
Blackhawks show no sign of slowing with 4-3 win over Sabres.
NFL:
Get ready for some crazy week six action tomorrow.
The arbitrator ruled in favor of the NHL this week and has voided the 17 year $102 million contract Kovalchuk signed with the New Jersey Devils.Kovalchuk is now a free agent again and can sign with any NHL team.The problem is not who wants him; it’s who can afford him.
He’s stated that he wants at least $10 million a season.The Thrashers offered him that last season and he flat turned them down. He’s not only looking for big bucks, but he wants them from a contender, which limits his options dramatically. The arbitrator ruling will prevent teams from offering a front loaded contract, so the question becomes who has the money to pay for a $10 million a year player who hasn’t led a team to victory or won anything of note himself.I believe that Ilya is in a real bind here.He’s going to have to lower his demands or face playing in the KHL next season, both of which may be a good thing for hockey fans.
The arbitrator’s decision has also opened up a whole new can of worms that the Players Association most likely never thought through.The collective bargaining agreement with the NHL has two clauses that state that the league can review any contract, even after it has been approved, and there is no time deadline for the review of any contract.
A player can be in year two or three of a ten year contract, and if the league chooses to review it and reject it, that player is going to be up the creek without a contract.I think the NHL has let these super long term deals go on for a few years to build up enough ammunition to enact these clauses and make the players pay.The NHL has apparently already started reviewing the contracts of Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo, Blackhawks winger Marian Hossa, and Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger. The league will use the Kovalchuk decision as its precedent because the arbitrator even went so far as to mention those three contracts by name in his decision on the Kovalchuk case.
Long story short, Kovalchuck is back on the market, and now any player who signed a mega deal in the past few years, has reason to sweat.Stay tuned, it looks like this is just getting good.
I thought I was going to have a hard time finding interesting things to write with the NHL in the off-season, and my general lack of interest in baseball so far this year.Boy was I wrong.
The news is simple and complex in so many ways.The Chicago Blackhawk’s signed free agent goaltender Marty Turco to a one year, $1.3 deal.Ordinarily this wouldn’t be newsworthy but the way the Hawks got there is newsworthy. I’ll start back in June, when the Hawks won the Stanley Cup. The team was overloaded with players in the final year of their contracts, which is how they managed to get so good and stay under the salary cap. Goaltender Antti Niemi was in his first full year with the Hawks, and earned the starting job earlier in the year.Niemi was making a modest $825,000 which isn’t all that bad for a young goalie.Niemi went on to backstop the Hawks to the Cup and went looking for a substantial raise.
The Hawks had already dumped the likes of Dustin Byfuglien, Ben Eager, and Andrew Ladd to make salary room.Neimi and the Hawks went all the way to salary arbitration, and the arbitrator sided with Neimi.He was awarded a one year $2.75 contract.The Hawks had a couple of days to decide to accept the ruling or allow their rookie goaltender to become an unrestricted free agent.The Blackhawk’s made the decision to let Niemi walk, and signed Turco to the $1.3 million deal. That’s how the Hawks go from winning the Cup, to signing a goalie whose reputation is built on playoff futility.I’m sure occurrences like this are normal in the NBA and the NFL, but the salary cap is still new to the NHL, so teams are still learning to adapt to it.I’m sure there will be more instances like this one in the future, but this one sets the precedence. Neimi is rumored to land in Philadelphia or San Jose. Both cities are in dire need of goaltending.
The arbitrator in the NHL v. Kovalchuk case should rule early this week, so this may be quite a historic week in the league.Stay tuned!
The NHL announced early this morning that it had rejected the 17 year, $102 million deal that the New Jersey Devils and Ilya Kovalchuk had signed yesterday.NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman advised Devils GM Lou Lamoriello early in the day yesterday that he may want to hold off on the press conference announcing the deal, but the Devils chose to go through with it.
The NHL rejected the deal because they felt that it was a direct circumvention of the salary cap, and a “retirement contract”, where neither party expected the contract to progress all the way to completion.It’s back to the drawing board for the Devils and Kovalchuk.
I’ve never seen this happen before, so I have no idea what the next steps are, but I’m sure it won’t be quick or easy.We’re going to be hearing about this for weeks.I thought I was going to struggle to find hockey news to write about this summer, boy was I wrong.
The New Jersey Devils have landed the biggest fish in the free agent sea this summer: Ilya Kovalchuk. I haven’t been able to track down terms of the deal yet, but you can bet that it will be at least 10 years, and it will be for somewhere between 80 and 100 million. Just when everyone thought he was going to the L.A. Kings, he re-signs in New Jersey. Typical. I hope for the Devils sake that he produces more than he did in the few months that he was there last year.
Call it what you want, loyalty, fashion, honor, fanaticism, whatever.The odds are if you are reading this blog, you most likely own at least one, probably multiple sports jerseys. I bet each one cost a lot more than the shirt you are wearing now. Unless you are wearing a jersey now, if so, bravo!
The whole thought of jerseys and their cost came to mind today because of the Lebron James circus and secondly, because Capitals goalie Semyon Varlamov announced he is changing his number from 40 to 1.Those events made me think of all the people with James’ Cavaliers jersey, and the masses of people who own jerseys of teams that they love, with player names on them that have changed numbers or moved on long ago. My twitter feed is going nuts with Caps fans complaining about owning a Varlamov #40.
I remember the feeling of buying my first jersey. It was a Caps jersey, the white one with the Eagle on the front, and I was so proud to have #55 and Sergei Gonchar on the back.I picked him because everyone had Jagr or Bondra at the time, and I figured Gonchar would be around for a while and my wife already had a Kolzig.
I was a new partial plan holder and I wanted something to wear to the games.Less and four months later Gonchar was a Bruin, and I was initiated into the club of people who now had “throwback” jerseys.My situation got worse because Gonchar then went and signed with Pittsburgh, whom I can’t stand, so the jersey went to the back of the closet.
I feel for the millions of folks who spent their hard earned money on Lebron James jerseys, both authentic and replicas.Just think, you can sell it on Ebay for 1/3 of what you paid for it. Lord knows you should try and get some of that small fortune back. Most of those costs are licensing fees and profit.
The New Jersey Devils were selling authentic jerseys at their equipment sale a few weeks ago for $100, which is considered a deal for a jersey with no name or number, but has the heavy material and fight strap that a replica lacks.
Basketball and football jerseys are the same way, if you want the nice ones with the names and numbers stitched on, you better be prepared to part with several hundred dollars.Heck even the replicas with silkscreened names and numbers still go for over one hundred dollars, and are wrecked after several trips through the washing machine.
Players these days are so superstitious or are just plain head cases, but we love sports and are more than willing to pay the price for a jersey with their name on it. Take a look on Ebay, you can find almost any jersey you can think of there.The folks who rushed to buy Brett Favre Jets jerseys also come to mind today, heck I saw people with Brett Favre Vikings jerseys before he even announced he was going to play there.Crazy.
The only way to avoid being in this situation is to not buy jerseys at all, and that will never happen, so frame that LaDanian Tomlinson powder blue Chargers jersey, and if you are lucky he’ll get into the Hall of Fame and you won’t feel so bad.
The NHL’s free agent signing period opened at noon on July 1.Free agency in the NHL is handled a bit differently than the other major sports.
Baseball and football players tend to take a slow, methodical approach to where they will sign and for how much.Hockey players on the other hand, sign very quickly starting almost exactly at noon.
I’m writing this at about noon on Friday July 2, we are less than 24 hours into the signing period, and as of now 39 players have signed new contracts, totaling over $270 Million in contract value. I won’t list them, since most of the players aren’t household names, in fact only one notable player is amongst the players who have signed. He is Sergei Gonchar who left Pittsburgh and signed with Ottawa.The terms are 3 years at $5.5 million per year.
Goalies have been the most active with at least five goaltenders changing teams, but the biggest fish left in the free agent pool is Ilya Kovalchuk.Rumors have him connected to the L.A. Kings, but there are also rumors that he will go home and play in the Russian Kontinental Hockey League.I’m interested to see what he chooses.The money he will get from a KHL contract will be much higher than here in North America, but he won’t be playing at the highest level.Does he want the money, or the Stanley Cup?It will be interesting to find out.
The other thing that is fun to keep track of during free agency is how many general managers sign players to deals that are way too big and make that player unmovable. It seems to happen to at least two or three teams every year.Once the player signings slow down, I’ll review the list and put a post together that deals with that issue.Free agency is the last big event of the hockey year, so I don’t expect there to be a lot of news until we get closer to training camp in September.
What up ya'll... Just so everyone knows, in a few hours I will be traveling to Florida with Abe for a couple days. I am driving my grandma's car back (18 hour drive, yay) and we will resume posts after that.
Some things you might want to look forward to:
Mid-season MLB reviews and predictions
Update on NHL off-season
Update on NFL off-season
Maybe a World Cup update if I'm feeling nice
Wimbledon?
Golf?
NBA Draft review
Anything else you might want, drop a comment and let us know...
The NHL’s post season awards were handed out on Wednesday night in Vegas, and no, I didn’t win MVP.Here’s who did win and a few comments:
Hart Memorial Trophy, MVP: Henrik Sedin, Vancouver Canucks. This is being called a huge upset as he beat Ovechkin and Crosby. I think it’s good for the sport to have a different guy as MVP.He did lead the league in goal scoring which netted him the Art Ross Trophy as well.
Ted Lindsay Award: Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals.This is the “players” MVP, as this award is voted on by the players.
Norris Trophy: Duncan Keith, Chicago Blackhawks.The Norris is awarded for the best defenseman.Keith’s win signals a “changing of the guard” from the veteran defensemen like Nicklas Lidstrom.
Calder Trophy, Rookie of the Year: Tyler Myers, Buffalo Sabres. This was a mild upset, considering he beat out Matt Duschene, but certainly not a surprise.
Vezna Trophy, Top Goalie: Ryan Miller, Buffalo Sabres.I think we all know why he won this.He’s awesome.
Jack Adams Award, Top Coach: Dave Tippett, Phoenix Coyotes.Phoenix came within one win of getting to round two of the playoffs. Considering where they came from.Enough said.
There isn’t usually a lot of notable trade action in the NHL offseason, but the deal that went down yesterday between the Blackhawks and the Thrashers was a big one.The Blackhawks have sent Dustin Byfuglien, Ben Eager, and Brent Sopel to the Atlanta Thrashers for veteran Marty Reasoner, a minor leaguer, a first round and second round draft pick in Friday’s draft.
Byfuglien, Eager, and Sopel were all critical players in Chicago’s Cup run, and now they are gone. I can’t imagine how these guys must be feeling. Heck, they haven’t even gotten their day with the Cup yet. They are going from a potential dynasty, to a team that may not even make it through next season in Atlanta.It’s strictly a result of the salary cap, and I’m sure the Hawks would have rather kept them, but big contracts for Toews, Kane, and Hossa have them up against the cap. Personally I feel bad for these guys, but they are professional athletes and I’m sure the big checks they will be getting from the Thrashers will help them get over the disappointment of the trade.
In other trade news, the Montreal Canadiens have sent goaltender Jaroslav Halak (no that isn’t a typo) to St. Louis for two players, both are young and neither are stars.Halak is up for a new contract and the Canadiens decided to go with Carey Price as their every day goalie instead of Halak, who carried the team to the third round of the playoffs.The Canadiens have always loved Price, but I have to say I’m not sure I agree with the decision that was made.Halak regularly outplayed Price during their time together in Montreal, but apparently the Montreal brass aren’t ready to give up on Price just yet.
The NHL Entry Draft is tomorrow (Friday) night from StaplesCenter in Los Angeles.Edmonton picks first followed by the Boston Bruins. Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin are projected to be the first two picks, and will probably be the only two players from this years’ draft that go straight to the NHL.I’m looking forward to see if there will be more “wheelin’ and dealin” at the draft.I’m off to New Jersey this weekend to try and get my hands on some game used Devils equipment.I’m looking forward to checking in with the Devils fan base.
Apologies for the hiatus, but when life gives you Stanley cup and NBA finals and a world cup, sometimes forget to share opinions.With that being said, here are some (not so) rapid reactions to the past few weeks in sports:
The Los Angeles Lakers remind me that every sport constantly needs a bad guy.I’m not an NBA fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I tune in to watch them lose… Andrew Bynum makes me feel like a failure at life for doing what he does at my age.Originally, I ate cake while watching the game for enjoyment, now it’s eating feelings…
Strasmus came early this year in DC, as the resurrection of the franchise is in the hands of ohmygodthiskidcanpitch… For how awful it is that Baltimore has more opponent fans in the stadium than O’s fans, it really makes me more likely to make the trip up to “Fenway South” a few times each year… MASN2 had coverage of the Strasburg start, MASN covered the O’s vs. Yankees.That’s like having the Super Bowl on ESPN2 and the “Puppy Bowl” on ESPN…
I really hate Chris Pronger, and Duncan Keith was robbed of a playoff MVP trophy in the only sport where the playoff MVP trophy is just about pointless…
I watch soccer games on mute, thank you vuvuzela.Also, ESPN should have Spanish announcers do the World Cup as well; they’re much more active…
Speaking of active, Rajon Rondo is the reason the Celtics will win this NBA finals, as opposed to ’08 where they won in spite of him…Kobe Bryant is still “the next Michael Jordan”.No knock on LeBron, but when Kobe takes over, it’s a beautiful thing to watch…
Everyone throwing no-hitters every week is getting annoying.Want to make an anniversary less special?Have one every other day.See what I mean…?
Soccer won’t make it big in the states for one reason: that all of our best athletes play football or basketball.And the moment they’re good enough to play at an international level for soccer, they’re shipped to England (not that I particularly care)…
The realignment of the conferences will be the death of age old rivalries, but will eventually lead to the playoff system over the BCS that we all desperately want…USC is doomed, Lane Kiffin will miss Oakland, if such a thing is possible…
The Blackhawks have won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 49 years.Game six was a back and forth, tightly contested affair, much like the previous five games.The Flyers played with much grit and determination again, and even managed to force overtime with a goal late in the third period. The Blackhawks were just the better team, and they proved it in overtime.
Goalie Antti Niemi stood on his head for the last ten minutes of regulation. One save in particular was especially impressive on Mike Richards from point-blank range. The overtime game winner was scored by Patrick Kane a little more than five minutes into the overtime period.Kane put a sweet head fake on Philly defensemen Kimo Timmonen and drove to the net, a lot like another Chicago legend drove to the basket in the early 90’s.The shot slipped under Leighton’s stick and pads and stuck under the pad that goes around the inside of the net.Kane knew the puck was in immediately, as did Patrick Sharp.Everyone else, including the game’s broadcasters and other players had no idea the Cup had just been won.Kane streaked down the ice shedding his gloves and stick as he did.It took about a minute for the goal to become “official”, but once the players saw the puck in the goal, the party was on.
It was a surreal ending. I was watching on TV and I remember looking up as I heard Mike “Doc” Emerik start to say the word “score”, but he too lost the puck and continued the call for a couple of extra seconds.There was no controversy after seeing the overhead replay. It was clearly a good goal.
I talked to a teammate of mine last night, and found out the feeling of confusion that was in the WachoviaCenter last night was mainly due to the fact that the Flyers never showed a single replay of the game winning goal.No goal light came on, nothing.He said he saw Kane shoot the puck and then gear was everywhere.Folks in the rink were very confused. Overall though, the Philly faithful were respectful and well behaved during the post-game ceremonies.I saw some towels get thrown on the ice, but not a lot.They booed Gary Bettman, the NHL Commissioner, but everyone boos the commissioner. It’s like booing a politician. Jonathan Tows won the Conn Smythe Trophy for the MVP of the playoffs.Patrick Kane had better numbers but Toews is the captain of the Hawks, so he’s going to get more votes.
The Flyers have nothing to be ashamed of. I know it’s very easy for me to sit here and type that, but think about it. They were one shootout goal away from not even making the playoffs, next they were down three games to none to the Bruins, only to get down three to nothing in game seven of that series.The Flyers never quit, and proved that “History will be made” was the correct slogan for this year’s playoffs. Their run was magical and most of their fans know it.
Overall, the series was a lot of fun to watch.It wasn’t an epic, nor will it be compared to the best series of all time, but I believe it brought more new people to the game.I was also pleasantly surprised to see the game on NBC.Weeknight games had been traditionally carried by Versus as NBC didn’t want to take the ratings hit.It got good overnight ratings too, especially the overtime.
Lastly, I have thoroughly enjoyed writing about hockey for this blog since I started a few months ago, and thank Dan for the opportunity.Thank you for taking the time to read it.I’m looking forward to writing about some other sports as the summer and fall go on, and then getting back in to Hockey in the fall.Congrats to the Blackhawks….but look out for the Caps in 2011!
The scoreboard at the “Madhouse on Madison” had a very simple image.There was a picture of the Stanley Cup and a number one.The Hawks torched both Philly goalies for seven more goals, and are now one win away from winning their first Stanley Cup in 49 years.
There were many strong similarities to the first game of the series, as the teams combined for 11 goals, and Flyers goalie Michael Leighton got pulled.Chicago jumped all over the Flyers in the first period, scoring three goals and taking that 3-0 lead to the first intermission.The Flyers showed the resilience that is their trademark in this years playoffs, getting the deficit down to two goals twice, but they just couldn’t overcome the Hawks fast start.Neither Leighton nor Boucher were overly spectacular for the Flyers.Chicago coach Joel Quenneville moved Patrick Kane to the second line in an effort to spread out the scoring threat.Chris Pronger had been on the ice every time the Toews, Kane and Byfuglien(pronounced buff-len) line was on the ice in the first four games.The move allowed Kane to get more time and space with the puck and he responded with a huge game.
Byfuglien had a much better night against Pronger in the trenches as well.The Blackhawks power play was two goals out of four chances on the evening, which was the first time special teams has made an impact in the series. The best analogy I can give you is the Blackhawks were like the bully, who have just enough strength to keep the Flyers at arms length.The Flyers certainly didn’t quit in this game, but they just couldn’t get close after Chicago went up 3-0.The game was very entertaining, which has been a nice trend throughout the series. All the matches have been fun to watch so far.
Now the series shifts back to Philly on Wednesday night.Will the home ice advantage hold true? Home ice had been almost a disadvantage so far in the playoffs, it’s nice to see that has turned around for the Finals.It will be interesting to see how both teams play with the Stanley Cup in the building. I can’t wait for this one!
Goal scorers in game five:
Chicago: Brent Seabrook(Power Play), Dave Bolland, and Kris Versteeg in the first.Patrick Kane and Dustin Byfuglien(Power Play) in the second. Partick Sharp and Dustin Byfuglien(Empty Net) in the third.
Philadelphia: Scotty Hartnell and Kimo Timmanen in the second. James Van Reimsdyk and Simon Gagne in the 3rd.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a series.The outcome of game four is exactly why I don’t pick games, especially in the playoffs.The Flyers showed grit and skill at the same time as they evened the Stanley Cup Finals at two games apiece.
The Blackhawks were never really in this game.The Flyers imposed their will from the opening face-off all the way to the final whistle.I find it amazing what a little “home cooking” can do for a team. Less than a week ago the Hawks were up 2-0 and a lot of folks (myself included) were thinking sweep. Now, the series heads back to the “Mad House on Madison” on Sunday evening for game five, with the Stanley Cup Final down to a best of three.
Toews and Kane are still struggling to get on the board for the Hawks, and Chicago really needs them to get going.Philly’s big guns woke up for games thee and four, the two Flyer wins.It will be interesting to see if the trends hold true and the Hawks win again at home.Looks like a long road to the Cup from here. Goal scorers in game four were as follows:
Flyers: Mike Richards, Matt Carle, Claude Giroux in the first. Ville Lieno and Jeff Carter in the third.
Blackhawks: Patrick Sharp in the first. Dave Bolland and Brian Campbell in the third.
Game three was probably the most exciting game of the Stanley Cup Finals yet.The Flyers played desperation hockey in front of the largest home crowd in Flyers history.The 20,000+ Orange clad fans were sent home happy after Claude Giroux(pronounced Jerr-oo) scored his first goal of the finals in game winning fashion.The Blackhawks held a 3-2 lead in the third period after Patrick Kane got his first goal of the Cup Finals on a sweet breakaway.
I’d be lying if I told you that thoughts of a Blackhawks sweep didn’t enter my mind when the Hawks got the lead.Honestly, I’m excited to see that we will have what looks like a competitive series.Both goalies played well in Game 3.The Flyers just played more desperate hockey and fixed a lot of the mistakes that cost them in the first two games. I love overtime in the playoffs.We’ve only had one epic three overtime game so far this year.I was hoping this one would keep me well up into the night, but no such luck.
The series isn’t over yet!Game four should be very interesting. The Flyers now know they can beat Chicago, and will be playing at home again.The Hawks on the other hand will be looking to start another road winning streak.My instinct tells me that if the Flyers can win game four, then the series will probably go all seven games.A Blackhawks win in game four will most likely lead to the Hawks claiming the Cup after game five. I don’t usually make predictions, but since this one is in writing, I’m curious to see how it turns out.
Game three goal scorers are as follows: Flyers: Daniel Briere in the first on a power play, Scotty Hartnell in the second on the power play,Ville Leino in the third even strength, and Claude Giroux in overtime at even strength.Hawks: Duncan Keith in the second at even strength, Brent Sopel in the second at even strength, and Patrick Kane in the third on the even strength breakaway.
Game four is Friday night in Philadelphia at 8 pm.
