The Swamp

sancarlos wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 8:37 pm I feel bad for Joe Thornton and Jason Spezza.

Really thought this might be Toronto’s year.

Gotta love the unpredictability of sport.

I'll put it to you this way - I am a Bills and Browns fan. I have more confidence in either of those teams winning a title than I do in the Leafs winning one.

They won the Cup when I was 3 (1967). They haven't even been to the finals since then.

man, i feel for you Pruitt. As a Sabres fan...I really do feel for you. [i grew up loving the Leafs almost as much as Buffalo, being in opposite conferences and all, so i take no schadenfreude like many fellow Sabres fans are tonight I'm sure]

Our whole family watched this one; the girls enjoy hockey, they know the history and tonight took no effort for us all to gather. Lots of sympathy for the older Leafs guys like Thornton and Spezza (Spezza in particular since he fist-bumped my daughters after a game here in Buffalo a few years back). After that Leafs PP late in the 3rd where Price stoned them, we knew it was over.

Can't imagine what the mood is like there...and what the media is gonna be like tomorrow. Not gonna lie - i'll be tuning in.

Pruitt wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 8:54 pm

sancarlos wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 8:37 pm I feel bad for Joe Thornton and Jason Spezza.

Really thought this might be Toronto’s year.

Gotta love the unpredictability of sport.

I'll put it to you this way - I am a Bills and Browns fan. I have more confidence in either of those teams winning a title than I do in the Leafs winning one.

They won the Cup when I was 3 (1967). They haven't even been to the finals since then.

Maple Leafs and England have a parallel history.

Bracket is locked in now



After all the hype of unique possible finals matchups, it's probably gonna be east vs west afterall. (The one exception being an insane Montreal-Boston)

Oh wow look the draft lottery is rigged again.

Suspend Schiefle for a full season. Fuck this shit.

But but he’s NTTOP!!!

Not sure anyone is beating Colorado this year but a Tampa/Colorado Final could be pretty good.

1. Led with the elbow
2. Defenseless player
3. Puck was already in the net
4. Not a hockey play - his only goal was to destroy a guy

So tired of the hockey cheapshots, fellas.

Yup

It will depend on how injured Evans is. That's a factor in NHL suspensions.

Let’s hope “unconscious on the ice after scoring a playoff goal on his birthday” sets a pretty high baseline.

Can't wait to hear Maurice's thoughts on the Scheifele hit after he was more than happy to share his thoughts last Playoffs.

Really wish I hadn't flipped across that game and watched the end of it. So fucking uncalled for and so fucking done on purpose.

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Wed Jun 02, 2021 9:37 pm So tired of the hockey cheapshots, fellas.

This has been going on forever. A few of these each years, but nothing ever gets done. And here's an example of the kind of hockey reporting that has kept things like "the code" of the NHL sacrosanct since the days of Eddie Shore...

Dangerous 'clean' hits are not addressed in the NHL. It's always been a problem with the rulebook.

Pruitt wrote: ↑Thu Jun 03, 2021 7:16 am

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Wed Jun 02, 2021 9:37 pm So tired of the hockey cheapshots, fellas.

This has been going on forever. A few of these each years, but nothing ever gets done. And here's an example of the kind of hockey reporting that has kept things like "the code" of the NHL sacrosanct since the days of Eddie Shore...

It's only a tweet, but I don't read that the way you do. I read it as, "if you want to have a code, THIS is the type of code you should have, i.e. protect an injured player, even if he's not your teammate".

degenerasian wrote: ↑Thu Jun 03, 2021 7:24 am Dangerous 'clean' hits are not addressed in the NHL. It's always been a problem with the rulebook.

Pretty sure he was penalized for it.

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Thu Jun 03, 2021 7:29 am

degenerasian wrote: ↑Thu Jun 03, 2021 7:24 am Dangerous 'clean' hits are not addressed in the NHL. It's always been a problem with the rulebook.

Pretty sure he was penalized for it.

I mean he was given 5 and a game for charging because Evans was hurt. Does that warrant supplementary discipline like Kadri blindside hit to the head does by rule?

His focus is on destroying Evans, he commits early on, puts his shoulder down and forward and then throws his body towards the hit at the moment of contact to put some extra juice into it. It's actually by luck that the head was not the initial point of contact.

So this hit is really a pretty good example of why the NHL rulebook is badly written, overly focused on details.

My prediction is Scheiflele gets two games. He's going to get off on the technicality that it wasn't a headshot.

One of these days someone is gonna get paralyzed or killed and the guy doing it getting a 2 game suspension is gonna look pretty stupid.

brian wrote: ↑Thu Jun 03, 2021 8:22 am One of these days someone is gonna get paralyzed or killed and the guy doing it getting a 2 game suspension is gonna look pretty stupid.

Yup but the NHL is a navel-gazing league. The guy was killed but we have to go through all the steps in slo-mo!

He's getting a not in person hearing today, so for sure less than 5 games.

agreed.

I really like the Jets and Scheif is one of my favourite players in the league and I didn't see the game last night so seeing the replay this morning was really disappointing at best. Would be nice if he didn't get to play again until next season but we know that's not happening.

(...actually would be nicer if he'd never run Evans of course...)

I hate this aspect of hockey. Fucking hate it. It's like nobody remembers the actual point of checking is simply to remove the player from the puck, that's it. I'd love if they actually called charging by the book (yes yes, like they should call *everything* by the book). I have no desire to see runs at guys and fearing the next hit I see is going to end up in .... well, this.

brian wrote: ↑Thu Jun 03, 2021 8:22 am One of these days someone is gonna get paralyzed or killed and the guy doing it getting a 2 game suspension is gonna look pretty stupid.

Another aspect of hockey that's outdated, sending messages in Game 1. Schief was a crazed lunatic last night going around roughing it up to 'send messages'

Habs are saying today if the NHL allows Schief back in the series, he's dead.

yup. the cycle continues. stupid.

degenerasian wrote: ↑Thu Jun 03, 2021 8:48 amHabs are saying today if the NHL allows Schief back in the series, he's dead.

As much as I hate siding with the Canadiens, I'm fine with that. Let the league know its their job to protect them and, if the league won't, they'll call their shot and handle it themselves. Whoever the 2nd man in (Toffoli) was could have absolutely destroyed Scheifele with a high cross-check and restrained and that should be the message to Bettman and DoPS: "We held up to give you the chance to make this right, but someone is going to."

brian wrote: ↑Thu Jun 03, 2021 8:22 amOne of these days someone is gonna get paralyzed or killed and the guy doing it getting a 2 game suspension is gonna look pretty stupid.

See, I think when that does inevitably happen the NHL will go huge on the offender and pretend that it was a totally new type of offense, not something that we can all see building to an obvious end.

I think what saves him is there's an empty net and so sprinting the length of the ice at full speed is an understandable action. In this case, I think he can argue he was making a defensive play. I still say two games.

So, in their hype highlights of the game, the official Winnipeg social media included that hit in their video. Sheesh.

degenerasian wrote: ↑Thu Jun 03, 2021 10:40 am I think what saves him is there's an empty net and so sprinting the length of the ice at full speed is an understandable action. In this case, I think he can argue he was making a defensive play. I still say two games.

There's a lot of video that contradicts that point. Scheifele goes more upright to make the hit and is still within stick checking distance, or really damn close, if he had any interest in doing so.

I agree but the NHL dinosaurs will see it different.

degenerasian wrote: ↑Wed Jun 02, 2021 10:19 pm Can't wait to hear Maurice's thoughts on the Scheifele hit after he was more than happy to share his thoughts last Playoffs.

Of course it was

If that's the case he should be furious with the refs for giving his guy 5+10 for a clean hit.

4 games.

I think in the end that's correct.

It’s correct in a both sides kinda way. If he were Lowry and Evans were McDavid you might get a truly correct response for what he tried to do and did.

Hello, hockey people. I don't want to talk about the Pens, Oilers, Leafs, Scheifele, Reaves, or Tom Wilson. Is there anything left?

Probably! But I'm not really into any of the current series(es). I'm watching them, of course, because what else would I be doing? But I don't really care. I probably would have started to care about Tampa/Carolina if the Canes had held onto that lead today. Unfortunately for them, Tampa is still scary-good.

I should care about Colorado/Vegas, but I still haven't accepted Vegas into my heart, so I'm just waiting for Colorado to advance. Hockey fans deserve a Tampa/Colorado final, don't we? Yes. Yes, we do.

Isles/Bruins on now. It's very playoffy. Fights and scrums after every whistle. I've really liked this Boston team for a few years now, and I would love to see them win this year. And I would love to see Barzal play for any team other than the Isles.

It's all foreplay until Tampa/Colorado.

ETA - and the Bolts PP is the freaky good stuff

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Sat Jun 05, 2021 8:52 pm It's all foreplay until Tampa/Colorado.

Well, we thought that last year, too. (I was happy with Dallas in the final because I wanted to see Heiskanen win the Conn Smythe, but Colorado/Tampa would have been a better series.)

Okay, Isles/Bruins is a real series now. This is fun. I love the playoffs.

I've been enjoying the Habs/Jets series, too, Scheifele aside. Been partying like it's 1979, as it were. I've never quite bought into the Carey Price mystique, but he's been casually great.

Anybody else watching tonight? I'm here for the Habs. I don't usually root for a team that's up 2-0, but I guess I'm finally a Carey Price fan, so I'll ride this out for a bit longer.

Shamefully, I'll probably miss the Avs/Vegas game for the Mayweather/Paul farce. Don't judge me.

If Mayweather actually kills Paul it’ll be hilarious.