The NHL Thread

Well, today was "Everything Is Totally Bullshit Day" in the NHL.

Raffi Torres. What a shitheel. Awful.

Game 4 for the Caps will be without Backstrom thanks to that Shanahammer. Or actually, Shanahan not stopping the ref's bullshit hammer on a guy finally fed up from having his fresh-from-concussion head being targeted for three games. So he shoves a guy towards the shoulder and has his shove deflected up toward his head. If it weren't at the end of the game, it would have been a minor. Now he misses a critical, must-win game for a shove in the final moments while Shea Weber paid the equivalent of one shift of play for GRABBING A GUY BY THE HEAD and shoving him BY THE HEAD on the glass.

The officiating is awful, Shanhan is awful, has the NHL lost all control of the game? I don't think Marian Hossa will be the last person sent to the hospital at this rate, maybe not even the last in the first round.

Just wow.

I'm pretty pleased.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Umlaut

Well, today was "Everything Is Totally Bullshit Day" in the NHL.

Raffi Torres. What a shitheel. Awful.

Game 4 for the Caps will be without Backstrom thanks to that Shanahammer. Or actually, Shanahan not stopping the ref's bullshit hammer on a guy finally fed up from having his fresh-from-concussion head being targeted for three games. So he shoves a guy towards the shoulder and has his shove deflected up toward his head. If it weren't at the end of the game, it would have been a minor. Now he misses a critical, must-win game for a shove in the final moments while Shea Weber paid the equivalent of one shift of play for GRABBING A GUY BY THE HEAD and shoving him BY THE HEAD on the glass.

The officiating is awful, Shanhan is awful, has the NHL lost all control of the game? I don't think Marian Hossa will be the last person sent to the hospital at this rate, maybe not even the last in the first round.

Just wow.

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Yeah, suspending Backstrom is pretty weird, there seems to be no consistency. Even amongst Bruins fans, the general reaction has been "I guess I'll take it, but I'd be pissed if I was a Capitals fan". As for people targeting Backstrom's head....is there really any evidence of that (specific hits, etc.)? I know Hunter said something to that effect, but forgive me for not taking his word at face value. There's been plenty of goonery on both sides, but I can't recall anything that stood out for me in regards to Backstrom.

It's not so much the hits that are targeting his head (though Thomas did blatantly punch him right in the head with no call in a nearly identical fashion to a hit Braden Holtby had on a Bruin in game 1 that resulted in a penalty against Washington...) as much as anytime there is any kind of scrum after a play where Backstrom is involved, within 2 seconds you'll see some Bruin grabbing him by the helmet and jostling it. He even got his helmet taken off on Monday by Lucic who then took a swing at him. Absurd. It's blatant and no one has called it out. Backstrom just missed half the season for a concussion, and naturally gets frustrated when the entire team is targeting his head and no one in the NHL or in the officiating squads seems to give a shit.

Some video evidence:
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What the fudge is going on in Philadelphia?

Magic.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Umlaut

It's not so much the hits that are targeting his head (though Thomas did blatantly punch him right in the head with no call in a nearly identical fashion to a hit Braden Holtby had on a Bruin in game 1 that resulted in a penalty against Washington...) as much as anytime there is any kind of scrum after a play where Backstrom is involved, within 2 seconds you'll see some Bruin grabbing him by the helmet and jostling it. He even got his helmet taken off on Monday by Lucic who then took a swing at him. Absurd. It's blatant and no one has called it out. Backstrom just missed half the season for a concussion, and naturally gets frustrated when the entire team is targeting his head and no one in the NHL or in the officiating squads seems to give a shit.

Some video evidence:
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Thanks for the video....it's hard to be objective when discussing your team, but I still remain unconvinced. The only thing that struck me as slightly egregious was Lucic taking off Backstrom's helmet in that first clip. If there were 3 or 4 more instances of something like that, I might be persuaded that there was some deliberate attempt to target Backstrom's head. But Bergeron putting his hand on Backstrom's visor seems pretty innocuous to me (if that had the least bit of an impact on Backstrom, he shouldn't be on the ice in the first place), and the rest of the stuff just kind of seemed like the stuff that happens when two physical teams play 200+ minutes of playoff hockey. Thomas' hit just seemed more retaliatory than anything else (Backstrom was in the crease and hacking at him). We're coming at this from different perspectives, so it will probably be hard to reach an agreement, but the one thing we can agree on is that the officials have done a horrible job so far.

It's best not to engage Umlaut RE: the Caps. He is the quintessential homer.
Talk any other subject related to hockey and you're usually likely to get an objective discourse.

I'm a Sharks fan, but I look forward to these Flyers/Pens games WAY more than the Sharks/Blues ones. What kind of hockey game ends 10-3? Is this even real?

Go Flyers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dimsdale

Thanks for the video....it's hard to be objective when discussing your team, but I still remain unconvinced. The only thing that struck me as slightly egregious was Lucic taking off Backstrom's helmet in that first clip. If there were 3 or 4 more instances of something like that, I might be persuaded that there was some deliberate attempt to target Backstrom's head. But Bergeron putting his hand on Backstrom's visor seems pretty innocuous to me (if that had the least bit of an impact on Backstrom, he shouldn't be on the ice in the first place), and the rest of the stuff just kind of seemed like the stuff that happens when two physical teams play 200+ minutes of playoff hockey. Thomas' hit just seemed more retaliatory than anything else (Backstrom was in the crease and hacking at him). We're coming at this from different perspectives, so it will probably be hard to reach an agreement, but the one thing we can agree on is that the officials have done a horrible job so far.

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I definitely agree with the last point. That video isn't comprehensive or definitive, and just includes a smattering of examples. With regards to the headhunting accusations, they may have been exaggerated a bit in frustration, and also just as a measure for the team to draw the officials' and league's attention to it to make sure that the Bruins won't be so reckless about it from now on. It worked for Claude Julien complaining about high cross checks from our stars. Ditto this reasoning with our complaining about Thomas' liberal use* of the blocker on our players -- not shown in that video is, in the same game where he punched Backstrom he also kicked Troy Brouwer, which is a match penalty according to the rulebook. So while it's kind of gross how complain-y the whole Caps organization and fanbase has gotten seemingly overnight, it was a two-day break where we lost maybe our most crucial player for maybe the most crucial game of the series, so we elected to take some time to call for fairness. It's not like it's controversial to say that 90% of the officials in all playoff games so far have had their heads mostly up their own asses, so if Julien could call out things bugging him, we wanted to identify some of the things that have been bugging us.

Now it's gameday, and time to leave it all on the ice. Even if we're on the wrong side of this 2-1 series, I have to say it's maybe my favorite playoff series so far of the past few years. Really excellent games. Here's hoping we can get it done without Backstrom tonight, we did it three times in the regular season without him.

>>>very late edit. what was here before was dickish. going to replace it with this guy:
http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1071683/robot.gif



*Timmy-Tom would probably be thrilled to see his name next to the word "liberal"

Torres gets 25 games.

The video does a good job of explaining the severity of the rulebreaking, but it still seems like the number 25 was pulled out of thin air (Not defending Torres. He's a dirtbag.). Shanahan and the NHL would do everyone (including themselves) a big favor if they had definitive rules to point to for these kinds of situations (even if the rule was "Interference, Charging, and Illegal Check to the Head with prior repeated head targeting offenses: 25 games"). Just put that shit on paper. Somewhere.

Ahhhahahhhahahahahahahaa yes

(kings)

Yay Kings. Yay Flyers and now I'm instantly reverting back to Flyers Suck.

I really don't feel good about the Caps chances pulling out a Game 7. Our Game 7 record is abysmal, and the Bruins Game 7 record since last season is, well, perfect, so... Couple this with the fact that the Caps have never been able to eliminate a defending Cup champion and the Bruins will be at home, and it just doesn't look good for Hunter, Holtby, and co.

Blues/Kings might be the most exciting matchup of these playoffs, and nobody generally gives a fuck about either of these teams!

2012: The Mystery Year.

I honestly don't know what the Wings problem was this year. They seemed to be equally dominant and horrible depending on the week. Nashville was the better team in the playoff so I'm not surprised at them winning. When you're the better team and you have the puck luck, you're going to win. In 21 straight playoff births I've seen Detroit get knocked out under almost every possible scenario, puck luck, injuries, super goalies, etc. But the refs setting the tone by calling so many penalties on the 2 least penalized teams in the league in game one just doesn't make sense, I mean we all know that the refs usually loosen up come playoffs and the player knows that too and respect it. The Wings won the game that Weber should have been suspended for, so I'm not salty about that. But how do you not suspend a guy who went after a guys head not in the context of a normal hockey play? Especially during the first season you decide to make head shots a prime focus. Beyond baffled. Makes me really think that some outcomes are trying to be predetermined by the guys in charge.

The officiating this season was the worst I've seen it ever across the board. I watched a lot of hockey this year, mostly Wings and Hawks, and it was terrible on both sides.

I think Lidstrom will come back under another 1 year contract but the Red Wing need some big nasty players if they are to compete with the future of the NHL.

Go Kings!

I am displeased but not stunned by the outcome of the Wings - Preds series. I am more worried about next year and the year after because I think Father Time has finally come for this team. I'm especially worried about the Yankeefication of the Red Wings, and what it will do to my soul, if the Red Wings go on a buying spree to make up for the aging of the roster.

If you are wondering why I haven't worried about this before then NO YOU SHUT UP!

I am most pleased that Marc-Andre Fleury is being embarrassed in public because I still haven't forgiven him for making David LeNeveu look like a total incompetent at the WJC, well before the NHL made LeNeveu look out of his depth

Nothing Makes Sense in the NHL Playoffs

GODAMMIT

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ArchStanton

GO, DAMMIT! GO ALL THE WAY TO THE CUP, YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARDS!

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What a nice thing to say!

Holtby is going to get eaten alive if he continues playing like he played last night. That said, him not flinching at Peverly's embarrassing bitch move was awesome.