What a game. I did not think the Flames would win it without Ville. Way to go Oleg!!!!!!!!!!!!! Flames up 3-2 in the series. 1 more win and the cup will return to Canada for the 1st time in 11 years.
awesome game...GO FLAMES GO. wish canucks were here...but the flames are my 2nd favorite team (since i got to school near calgary).
I can't believe the ratings for these games. There are late-night infomercials that draw bigger audiences.
This town is going to PHREAK if the Flames win Saturday. You could hear horns and shouting all over the city just after they won tonight. After wins in the finals as many as 40,000 people have closed down part of 17th Ave. SW to celebrate, a stretch now call the Red Mile. Remember that Calgary has a population of only about 1 million, so that’s closing in on 1 in 20. If they win Saturday there’s no telling how many people will be in the streets, 100,000 plus would be my guess. There’s been very little violence though. It seems to have been replaced by flashing. I guess us Canadians make love, not war. Win or lose Iginla and Kiprusoff are going to own this town. Calgary has done this with a very disciplined, close checking style of game, so it may not be as interesting to watch, but Calgarians are sure lovin’ it! 15 years is a long time between finals appearances (unless you’re the Leafs ) and the party is ON! GO FLAMES GO!
Amazing game--when Saprykin put that one in the net in overtime I lost my mind. Does it strike anyone else as almost COMICAL how odd this playoff series has been? You could almost feel that Calgary was going to go in and win this game just because of their style of play. When they are confronted in a must-win game, especially on the road, they come through. My big question is if this is going to be a repeat of Detroit (where they finally win at home in Game 6), a repeat of Vancouver (where they needed a road win in seven to advance), or if Tampa can somehow muster a two-game rally and win this series. I can't believe people don't care about this stuff. GO FLAMES!!!
Am I the only one surprised that Kiprusoff is wandering so much? Seems like he's really enjoying living on the edge. Scary thing is, IT'S WORKING! I remember when Roy would get the idea to start wandering during a game, we knew the Avs were done. It seems like Kiprusoff does better when he starts doing that stuff. Great series.
last nights game drew a 2.6/5 share, which was #11 for the night. Among 18-49 year olds it was only a 1.6 share, #11. ABC finished 5th in the ratings, only beating the WB.
I don't know how a sport with that ratings for its finals games can continue to claim to be a legitimate major sport. If there isn't a season next year, will anyone notice?
If it wasn't for the occasional posts on here, I wouldn't have known that the NHL season had even started. I'm sure that the majority of people are the same way.
There may not be a season next year, due to an almost certain strike, and I can tell you that it will certainly be missed north of the boarder. Having said that, NHL hockey is not what it used to be. There are some very obvious changes that need to be made and this commissioner simply doesn’t seem capable of making the decisions he needs to make. Hockey, the way is should be played, is a balance between grace and grit, between finesse and physicality. If you watch a good international hockey game or a good Olympic game you can see the kind of balance the NHL use to have. The problems for the NHL started in the 80s when the influx of international players raised the overall talent level quite a bit. Players were on average bigger and faster, but the size of the rinks remained the same. There started to be not enough room for the finesse part of the game. The often smaller finesse type players became less useful and often weren’t durable enough for the now dominating bump-and-grind/bump-and-stumble part of the game, so they started to be driven out of the game. Size became much more important than skill and the quality of the game really really suffered. Originally there wasn’t much that could be done about it because many teams were still playing in their old rinks, some of which were even smaller than today’s standard size. Boston and Chicago were two of these. Since that time, however, almost every team has a new rink and if any of these don’t have the ability to put in Olympic sized ice then the owners and the teams ought to be shot. The Miracle on Ice should have taught every American team and area owner not only the excitement of the international hockey, but where the future of the NHL lay. (I don’t think the NHL should go to full international ice, however, but the single most important thing it needs, and has needed for 20 years, is for the size of the ice surface to be increased the balance restored to the NHL brand of hockey.) Gary Bettman , however, (a New York lawyer ) doesn’t seen to understand the sensibilities of the game, and he’s convinced those who do that he understands what the US market wants and can make them all rich if they’ll only follow what he wants. Well, they expanded to a bunch of new cites and collected all those fees, but about a half dozen of them are now suffering greatly and may not survive. I think what the NHL needs first and foremost is a commissioner who understands hockey.
I knew that, that's why I mentioned the whole "if there's no NHL season next year, will anyone notice?" I was trying to note that, while the possibility is certainly high that there won't be a season next year, will the shutdown even be noticed? I'm sure Canadians will notice because hockey is a much bigger sport up in the Great White North, but overall and aside from a small core group of fans, people from the U.S. don't seem to be all that interested in the sport. I just think this coming lock-out could sound the death-knell of the League. It's already barely treading water, lose a season to labor disputes, and one has to wonder whether the League can come back. When you're losing out, ratings-wise to Arena Football, you're in trouble, and the last thing you need is a prolonged labor dispute.
I doubt that it would result in the demise of the NHL. A good salary cap will solve the financial problems for most teams. But with a bit of luck it could force the needed changes to the game. Good hockey is very entertaining to watch. I think that the current group of NHL old-boys believe that the American public isn’t capable of understanding good hockey, and only watches for the big hits and the fights. But if you listen to the response of Americans who watched some of the good Olympic games, they loved them. I get the feeling that the ice size issue is a political at this point. Even Don Cherry called for a bigger ice surface about 20 years ago, but the league has steadfastly refused to seriously address the issue. The smaller ice surface promotes the dumbed down version of hockey with more big hits and more fights. Maybe this crisis will provide the impetus to get rid of Bettman and bring some new thinking to the commissioner’s office.
Grizzled...i go to college in red deer. i wish i was back there now - instead i'm in vancouver. still pondering whether to make the drive out or not. either very worthwhile if the flames win ... or the biggest waste of 20 hours driving (round trip) of my life. i can't afford tickets...so i would just go to be in the city...but i'm still thinkin about it - not convinced either way.
All I can tell you is that if they win it’s going to be nuts here. The whole town is talking hockey. People have banners in their window, hanging on their fences, they’ve painted their cars with Flames logos, every second car has at lest 1 of those Flames window flags… It’s nuts already. After that last win there were 50,000 out on the Red Mile, which is centered roughly around 17th Ave. and 6th St. SW if you know the area. This has come completely out of the blue for people so everybody is just shocked and totally pumped. An Alberta born and raised coach teaches his team Sutter hockey and they not only make the playoffs for the first time in years, they march through knocking off 3 division champions so far, and could be the first team in history to knock off 4 to win the cup. We’re lead by an Alberta boy, Iginla. We have the all-star goalie, bringing back memories of Vernon, Fuhr, as young goalies who lead Alberta teams to the cup. If we win wild abandon will rule the town my friend, wild abandon, but almost no violence. Lots of boobs, but no violence. I think you can guarantee that there will be some kind of party even if they lose, because everybody will be reved for it anyway. IMO a drive through the mountains is never a wasted trip. Take a dip in the Okanogan, have a bite to eat at the Crazy Weed Kitchen in Canmore (worth at least a 10 hour drive all on its own IMO), hang out with some of your school buddies in Calgary. How can you go wrong? It is a 20 hour round trip, though, and longer if you go back via the Crowsnest Pass, but that’s an awesome way to go back if you’ve never done it. Better make up your mind soon, ‘cause if you’re coming you better start planning. If you want to watch the game in a bar and you get in early enough, Melrose Place will be right in the middle of the party afterward and they have a bunch of screens. I think the pictures you see on television are taken from their roof. Failing that either of the Shanks sports bars will undoubtedly be rockin’. They’re both huge sports bars with many big and small screens. Neither is close to the Red Mile, but it won’t take you long to drive there. You should also note the Calgary Police are bringing in major reinforcements for tomorrow night. The cops have been very cool but they are busting people for having open alcohol, and I think they busted one woman for flashing, but she must have done something pretty extreme or right in their face or something because there’s been lots of flashing going on, as can be seen on flamesgirls.com (not suitable for the office!).
Grizz: Have missed you in the D&D buddy. Looked back on pre-war posts a while back, and while I flatter myself that I was pretty accurate, your posts were pretty much bang on. Didn't post any of the pro-war posts; no sense salting wounds.
