It's here! The NHL 2003-04 playoff thread

[Johnny93g]

[kingfc22]

Finally! And home-ice advantage in the Western Finals too.

[sachmo71]

The Avs are out, too.

Now...COME ON FLAMES!!!!

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Crap.

(Slumps over. Briefly looks up...)

Crap.

(Slump)

that sums it up pretty well

[Draft Dodger]

time to go play UT2K4 and blow some stuff up

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

that sums it up pretty well

(Poors DD a shot from the Bottle of Woe and slides it across the bar to him.)

[Johnny93g]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

(Poors DD a shot from the Bottle of Woe and slides it across the bar to him.)

Leave me the bottle when your done

[Simms]

*half-heartedly waves in hopes of getting the bartender's attention*

[Simms]

Dola....

Usually it takes me a day or two to really recover emotionally from an early Leaf playoff exit. Tonight, it literally took less than 30 minutes.

You'd think I was getting used to this or something.

[Simms]

Double dola...

GO FLAMES!

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Simms

*half-heartedly waves in hopes of getting the bartender's attention*

*looks up from the bar with bleary, blood-shot eyes, as he sits besides Hurst, Ksyrup, and the others* Whas.... Whas.... Whass took ya ssso long, boysh?

[Hurst2112]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

*looks up from the bar with bleary, blood-shot eyes, as he sits besides Hurst, Ksyrup, and the others* Whas.... Whas.... Whass took ya ssso long, boysh?

hehe, good one.

I picture about 6 guys at the Front Office Football Central bar and grill, sitting at the bar with about 45 shot glasses, couple packs of smokes, several empty pitchers, and a whole bunch of drunken hugs and tears.

Yet, we still manage to stay and watch the rest of the playoffs, if only for an excuse to wallow a little longer with fallen comrades.

[bbor]

Arghghhhh....What a shot by Roenick...The guy is nails when it comes to this sorta stuff.

Too bad for Domi to miss that chance at the end of the 3rd...he played a great game.

Tuckers hit on Kapenen was just .......i'm speechless.

Sorry Vince....but i gotta throw my support behind Calgary now.

Calgary/TB would make an interesting final.

What a shitty way for Ronnie Franchise to end his career

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Thanks for the 24 hour reprvie, SI. It's much appreciated. After the 24 hours are up, I do fully expect, nay, demand things return to normal!

Well, you're 24 hours are up. Hope the Wings enjoy their summer on the links right next to the Hawks. Enjoy that President's Trophy

SI

[Hurst2112]

Every team should have a chance to win the cup more than twice in their life.

[ice4277]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Well, you're 24 hours are up. Hope the Wings enjoy their summer on the links right next to the Hawks. Enjoy that President's Trophy

SI

Enjoy another lottery pick in the draft

[ice4277]

dola

Sorry to see that happen Leafs fans. You guys will get your Cup soon, I think.

A Calgary/Toronto finals would have been a classic; maybe some other time.

[chrisj]

For anyone in the NHL hockey pool... results after round 2:

sahyder1 29
thomasthomas 29
BruceM 28
chrisj 26
ill16ca 26
BigBambino 21
Honolulu Blue(FOFC) 19
sachmo71(FOFC) 19
SoxWin 18
LivnLegend 15
PittPanther 15
doubles 12
Muppetus Galacticus 12
kq76 11
Draft Dodger 9
Long_Long_Name 7
PrestonKaye 7
KidKala 5
Xenimus0 2

[sachmo71]

Round 3...

calgary over San Jose in 6 (yikes!)
Tampa over Philly in 6

[Tekneek]

I don't care too much who wins out of this round. My criteria for it being a very good playoff tournament primarily involved New Jersey, Detroit, Dallas, and Colorado NOT winning the Cup. Since that is what we are looking at, I am absolutely thrilled. I would 'prefer' that it be between Calgary and Tampa Bay, but any result is a good one at this point.

[bbor]

Iwould say

Calgary in 7

TB in 6

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by bbor

Iwould say

Calgary in 7

TB in 6

San Jose in 7

TB in 6.

I got every round wrong last time. I should have never gotten so sentimental...

[Vince]

San Jose in 5

Tampa Bay in 6.

[Dr. Sak]

May 15, 2004
Game 4: Eastern Conference Finals
Philadelphia Flyers vs Tampa Bay Lightning
I AM THERE!!!

Go Flyers!!!

[bbor]

Nice job Bsak...have fun

[Draft Dodger]

great quote from Bill Scheft in this weeks SI (which I'm suddenly getting even though I never subscribed)

on the TB/Montreal series:
"The series was over so fast the Canadiens' Mike Ribeiro had to fake an injury in the handshake line."

[Karim]

Looks like TB is for real. A lot of play is being made up here that 200 seats were being sold at $9. But I guess you do what you have to to sell out the building.

Can you imagine TB winning the Stanley Cup and then post-CBA the team is contracted?

[bbor]

I don't think there will be contraction in the NHL.

Has'nt TB been selling seats for 9 bucks all season?

TB will walk away with this series as long as they continue to play their game...which is built on speed.If they try to play grind it out hockey the flyers will beat them.

[Vince]

Originally Posted by bbor

TB will walk away with this series as long as they continue to play their game...which is built on speed.If they try to play grind it out hockey the flyers will beat them.

I think that's exactly the way the Sharks/Flames series will go as well. The Sharks need to keep it at their own pace. With the depth we have, and the injury troubles they have, I don't think even the intangibles can keep us from doing that.

That being said, I'm still nervous as all hell...any team that beats the Red Wings scares the hell out of me.

[Vince]

[Maple Leafs]

Yet another reason we love playoff hockey:

Tim Rattay will have surgery Tuesday morning to repair the torn groin he suffered during Friday's workout. The procedure will be performed by team orthopedist Dr. Michael Dillingham.

"The muscle came off the bone, it was obviously serious," head coach Dennis Erickson said. "He's looking at anywhere from 3-4 months of healing time. We all felt that surgery was the best option and would give him the best chance to heal."

Meanwhile, in Toronto, three different Leafs suffered the same injury in the playoffs. Each one missed between two and four games.

[Vince]

Nice.

Wow...the Sharks just turned it on in the second period...completely flip-flopping what is expected out of these two teams (Sharks = best 1st period team in the NHL, Flames = best 2nd period team in the playoffs). Kiprusoff has been out of his mind good, but Calgary is going to have to give him some breathing room. 33 shots on goal already for the Sharks? That's crazy.

[klayman]

Yay Flames!!!

[Draft Dodger]

wow - Kiprusoff makes 49 saves to beat his old team. He must be feeling kind of good right now...

[Karim]

Sharks did everything right except score on the 2 minute 5-on-3. It was a BS call on Simon but I guess it all evens out through the course of a series. Still, if Cheechoo had of scored on that trip on Nilsson...

Iginla was completely shut down but still managed to get an assist on the winner...

The Sharks are so much faster than Vancouver or Detroit and that exposed the Calgary defence for the first time in the playoffs...

It was a lucky win and we'll have to play so much better if we want to have a chance in this series.

[Cards4ever]

Originally Posted by Karim

Sharks did everything right except score on the 2 minute 5-on-3. It was a BS call on Simon but I guess it all evens out through the course of a series. Still, if Cheechoo had of scored on that trip on Nilsson...

Iginla was completely shut down but still managed to get an assist on the winner...

The Sharks are so much faster than Vancouver or Detroit and that exposed the Calgary defence for the first time in the playoffs...

It was a lucky win and we'll have to play so much better if we want to have a chance in this series.

A young defense, but, gotta love Leopold!

I'm wondering what people think about Calgary, are they just the surprise team of the playoffs, or, are they a contender for the next couple of years.

[bbor]

I quite enjoyed Motador scoring the winning goal.He has worked hard as Gauthiers replacment.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Cards4ever

A young defense, but, gotta love Leopold!

I'm wondering what people think about Calgary, are they just the surprise team of the playoffs, or, are they a contender for the next couple of years.

It depends a lot on two things. One, can they keep together what talent they have after the impending lockout *and* continue to build. Keep Iggy and get him help. They aren't nearly as deep as the "perennial" playoff teams, particularly in the west.

Two, it's all about Miikka. I mean, he had a 1.70 GAA and .933 save percentage this past season and those are downright gawdy numbers. There were a lot of years in the 90s when Jersey wasn't that talented (only a line or two deep) but they were always pretty good because of Brodeur. If Kiprusoff keeps playing like he has the second half of this season and the playoffs, then they could duplicate what New Jersey did for the longest time, relying on defense and a keeper and hoping to score enough to win. But look at Anaheim, Giggy was supposed to do that but he just wasn't as good as he was last year and it exposed quite a few of the weaknesses on the rest of the team.

Then again, this is coming from someone who hasn't really seen any of their games until the playoffs.

SI

[Karim]

Originally Posted by Cards4ever

I'm wondering what people think about Calgary, are they just the surprise team of the playoffs, or, are they a contender for the next couple of years.

The core is obviously Kirprusoff, Regehr and Iginla. The defence is all young with Warrener being the oldest (28). With Dion Phaneuf and Tim Ramholt coming in a couple years, that part of the team looks good.

Up front the plan is obviously to qualify Iginla, hope a new CBA is small/medium market friendly and then try and renegotiate the contract. Kobasew, Sapryking and Lombardi are the future along with potentially Taratukhin, Trubachev and Maki.

So much depends on whether Kirprusoff is long-term the real deal and the outcome of CBA negotiations.

[Vince]

Wow. I can't believe that. So many scoring chances for the Sharks, and we couldn't hit any of them. Allowing 3 goals and STILL having a .900+ Save percentage? Jeez. Tough to feel bad about that game, but we still just lost home ice advantage.

[sachmo71]

Go Flames!

[Dr. Sak]

Flyers finally woke up today!! 5-0 woo hooo!

[Maple Leafs]

My source at TSN says the Leafs have called a noon press conference.

Speculation inside TSN right now is that Gary Roberts is done, although it could also be the Belfour resigning.

[bbor]

Roberts done as a Leaf?...or just done period?

Papers here are saying he refuses to play again with Quinn.

[Simms]

I heard that about Roberts on the Fan this morning, but they said Rick Curran (Roberts' and Nieuwendyk's agent) says it's not true, and Ferguson has already approached him about extensions for both of them.

[Maple Leafs]

If not Roberts, it must be Belfour. What else would qualify as a major announcement right now?

[sterlingice]

Where are you finding news of this press conference. I can't find any mention on tsn.ca, NHL.com, or ESPN.

SI

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Where are you finding news of this press conference. I can't find any mention on tsn.ca, NHL.com, or ESPN.

A friend who works at TSN (Canadian version of ESPN) sent a note about it.

[Maple Leafs]

False alarm.

Aparently the "major announcement" is that the Leafs have signed a seven-year deal with a local radio station.

Sigh.

[bbor]

Mojo?