This generation of players -led by Crosby- will certainly go down in Canadian lore. That second Cup and most recent international gold vaults him into rarefied hockey air.
2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs
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NHL should send a message to a repeat offender like Keith by giving him the rest of the season AND the first round of the playoffs.
That would be great. However, it seems they weight 1 playoff game equivalent to between 3 and 5 regular season games. That said, I have a hard time believing that they will come down with a potentially 7 playoff game ban for Keith, a star, one of the leagues best, on the face-of-the-league team.
I do agree that some serious message needs to be sent though. This isn’t the first time, the second time or the third time this has happened. The guy is clearly an unremorseful repeat offender with a pattern for this and other forms of beyond the line violence. Here is some more stick work action from Keith: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGfhjojSbcw
It annoyed me that even Joel Quenville is not condemning Keith’s actions. I understand that he is his coach, but come on. This is completely indefensible crap. Whatever messages the league has sent up until now clearly have not had an effect here. When does it become part of his organization’s responsibility to condemn and bear some account for Keith’s actions? Everyone was quick to jump on the Blackhawks organization for not voluntarily distancing themselves from Patrick Kane during the offseason rape-accusation circus that followed him around…… which turned out to not even be true… but who is calling for the organization to condemn Keith’s clear and present violence on the ice? I mean, swinging a stick at guy’s faces is not minor-penalty idiocy. This is Marty McSorley-level stuff. This is concussion, facial laceration, eye damage, dental damage, nose breaking kind of crap.
It’s not even competitive, down and dirty play. It is intent to injure borne out of childish selfishness and unchecked anger at being slighted in any way.
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In other news… How have I not realized until now how dirty a d-bag Duncan Keith is? What a colossal idiot:
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/03/chicago-blackhawks-duncan-keith-another-high-sticking-intent-to-injureThat is beyond irresponsibility. It is fully deliberate and there is an established pattern of this ass-hattery. And talk about selfish play… getting suspended does no favors to a Chicago team that is wallowing in mediocrity of late with multiple star players out of commission. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/rosenblog/ct-blackhawks-duncan-keith-ejection-rosenbloom-20160330-column.html
I hope he gets rest of the season, plus two playoff games.
All very true, and I agree, that his actions were below my awareness radar as well. Sick when you look at his ‘body of work’ WRT cheap <retaliatory>shots.
Maybe the Hawks deserve to lose this year. Their play lately certainly indicates it is lacking ‘something’….</retaliatory>
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It’s on dudes! Wings squeak in and Boston collapses like a hollow shell of their former selves.
Looks like an exciting playoff ahead of us. My pick sheet is almost finalized for the Pool. Will be sending later tonight hopefully.
Good luck.
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Deadline for pool picks is (today) Wednesday the 13th… sometime around 7:00 EST if you can swing that. Already have a couple of yours.
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Picked a few Penguins figuring they were due to beat the Rangers, but I would love to be wrong in this case. The only edge the Rangers have is between the pipes, but backup goalies have a habit of looking legendary against the uptight Rangers in the playoffs.
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Picked a few Penguins figuring they were due to beat the Rangers, but I would love to be wrong in this case. The only edge the Rangers have is between the pipes, but backup goalies have a habit of looking legendary against the uptight Rangers in the playoffs.
This series is a hard one for me to figure out. I lean toward the Penguins, as most other people have been, but Pittsburgh having to rely on an almost completely untested goalie throws a big if into the mix. I still haven’t seen a real update on Fleury’s status other than that he was practicing in full gear yesterday.
The Rangers have pretty decent depth and if Lundqvist plays at the top of his game and their big guys can really squeeze the game a bit, I can easily see New York grinding out this series and advancing.
As with most of these series, it could easily go one way or the other. There is no way to predict with certainty when there is personal confidence and random bounces involved.
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Deadline for pool picks is (today) Wednesday the 13th… sometime around 7:00 EST if you can swing that. Already have a couple of yours.
I didn’t get the sheets… try cliffsidebunker@outlook.com.
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In other news… Zach Parise has now been listed as “Out Indefinitely” http://sports.yahoo.com/news/wild-star-parise-indefinitely-upper-body-injury-161109296–nhl.html
Know what you are getting into if you intend to pick him. Guess he is going to miss at least the first two games. Aggravated herniated disc.
I don’t see how Minnesota wins without him. And without Vanek.
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@Young:
Deadline for pool picks is (today) Wednesday the 13th… sometime around 7:00 EST if you can swing that. Already have a couple of yours.
I didn’t get the sheets… try cliffsidebunker@outlook.com.
Sorry YG, using your old email.
I resent to the new one.
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Thanks Lucas,
Just did my picks, I’m all in on an Anaheim vs Washington final.
WHOOAA!!
(my picks are riskier than a triple A rated CDO in 2008, lets roll those dice)
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I am conflicted and not sure what to do about my picks. Been so busy with everyone else’s and work stuff that I haven’t had time for my own.
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I am conflicted and not sure what to do about my picks. Been so busy with everyone else’s and work stuff that I haven’t had time for my own.
I’m sure you’ll get yours in just before the Conference Finals like you do every year :-D
(Just kidding Commish, I know you’re busy)
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@Young:
I am conflicted and not sure what to do about my picks. Been so busy with everyone else’s and work stuff that I haven’t had time for my own.
I’m sure you’ll get yours in just before the Conference Finals like you do every year :-D
(Just kidding Commish, I know you’re busy)
HA! HA! A wise guy, huh?
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No Gargantua this year?, well at least we won’t be subjected to empty declarations of impending victory.
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@Young:
No Gargantua this year?, well at least we won’t be subjected to empty declarations of impending victory.
I am not sure. He’s been MIA since I got a non-committal “Dare I do this again” email from him.
He did get his to me a little late last year, but it wasn’t an issue. I hope he joins again, he provided some very funny material last year.
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I got a 4 point night out of Hornqvist (although I think lots of people took him in that garbage box).
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@Young:
I got a 4 point night out of Hornqvist (although I think lots of people took him in that garbage box).
I did to and was happy that I took him. It was either Hornqvist or James Neal… but i am unsure of the NSH-ANA series. Plus James Neal is a petulant dirt bag… so, yeah. Hornqvist.
If you like Pittsburgh to beat the Rangers, Hornqvist is actually a pretty underrated pick. He could have easily been bumped up to the higher box, but it was too stacked. I suppose I could have knocked Nash down to box 3, what with the rather poor year he had.
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I’ve got no problem with the way the boxes were done, you’re always gonna have one or two that guide your hand to some extent.
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@Young:
I’ve got no problem with the way the boxes were done, you’re always gonna have one or two that guide your hand to some extent.
Yeah, it is always a bit of a challenge. I go through about a dozen different preliminary revisions before I settle on the final version. In no particular order, these are the attributes of each player that I must weigh:
- season point totals
- star status / widely known name
- known past playoff performance
- perceived team favoritism to go deep
- position played
- previous placement in the pool
- usage on the power play and penalty kill
- number of players available in boxes from a given team
- injury status (long, term, short term, best guess)
- balanced likelihood to start (goalies)
- I also try to balance the number of East/West conf players in each box, best as possible.
There is a lot to consider… After the tenth revision, I get pretty close to a perfect balance. Never totally satisfied though.
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Go Stars! They may not be the favorites, but it is my team. At least, it is a good start. :-D