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ort888 · May 4, 2001, 02:44 PM

Not to start anything, buit you say the West is less formidable because the Stars got swept? Um, what about the team that swept them? If Dallas is so great, then any team that sweeps them must be pretty good, huh?

Name me one weakness in St. Louis... I dare you. Turek is playing great. They out toughed San Jose, on of the toughest teams in the league. They out defended Dallas, one of the best defensive teams in the league. Now they need to out finesse Colorado, and I think they can.

They have Toughness, Defense, Coaching, Offense, Skill, Goaltending, Depth, Youngsters, Veterans, what is the weakness? I think they can do it this year.

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ort

alieng79 · May 5, 2001, 09:53 AM

I really cant say much because my team (NYR) sucked it up once again this season

I swear if they dont get rid of the geriatric crew and start over im gonna flip!!! Anyways im up in school in buffalo and i cant help rooting for the Sabres...They've made a series out of this one, after falling 0-2...(i was at game 2, i think i fell asleep at one point, well i would have if the guy didnt drop popcorn on my head

) Anyway, i think sabres have a chance to take pitt again tonite, i think they have Hedbergs number...As for the west, i think its going to be interesting...St. Louis is playing amazing, i watch the game 4 two days ago and Turek amazed me, but Colorado is SCARY too...So it should be interesting...
RANGERS IN 2005 (Im being realistic here

)

jholmes · May 5, 2001, 10:28 AM

ort -
You are dead on . The Blues looked very powerful in sweeping my Stars. Like last year's Devils. We were too old, too beat up and just played like crap for three of the four to do anything. But the Blues took away passing lanes, had much better team speed and Turek must have a big red "S" somewhere under those pads. Since he left Dallas (a trade we had to make or lose him in the expansion draft) He has never lost to the Stars. Ouch.

Good luck Blues - I'll be very impressed if they come up against somebody better

PeteL999 · May 5, 2001, 10:51 AM

ouch leafs take major blow not having domi for the remainder of playoffs...that was a dirty hit on neidermeyer..he deserves every game of that suspension. Anyway I think the blues have an excellent chance this year. No team looks as strong as them

ort888 · May 7, 2001, 01:55 AM

How about them Kings? Can they knock off the mighty Aves also? Colorado is looking pretty flat. Makes me happy as a Blues fan. Both teams look pretty beat up. I think the Blues can beat either now. Of course, I'm sure Detroit and Colorado felt pretty confident as well.

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ort

Demonhood · May 7, 2001, 02:08 AM

The Kings game almost gave me a heart attack. Double overtime with no score. The Avs haven't scored a goal in over 150 minutes of play time.

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Kestral · May 7, 2001, 02:22 AM

Originally posted by ort888:
Not to start anything, buit you say the West is less formidable because the Stars got swept? Um, what about the team that swept them? If Dallas is so great, then any team that sweeps them must be pretty good, huh?

Name me one weakness in St. Louis... I dare you. Turek is playing great. They out toughed San Jose, on of the toughest teams in the league. They out defended Dallas, one of the best defensive teams in the league. Now they need to out finesse Colorado, and I think they can.

They have Toughness, Defense, Coaching, Offense, Skill, Goaltending, Depth, Youngsters, Veterans, what is the weakness? I think they can do it this year.

The West is less formidable because in terms of comparing conferences, the West has always been a more run and gun style while the East has been a hard tough gritty defensively solid conference. Simply put, Eastern teams and playing style is more suited to the playoffs.

There are many weaknesses in St. Louis. Other than Chris Pronger and Al MacInnis, the rest of the team are a bunch of pansies, youngers, or worthless foot soldiers who happen to be playing a "paint-by-numbers" style game.

In the playoffs, it's all about the goaltending. So I DARE you to tell me that Roman Turek is even in the same planet as Curtis Joseph. As mentioned, Al MacInnis and Chris Pronger are awesome defensemen but take all 6 defensemen and average them out and compared them to the Leafs' 6-man unit and the Leafs have the better overall defense corps. Leafs have way more scoring depth. Plus, where is the superstar factor? Leafs have Mats Sundin, who is playing on top of his game. Keith Thachuk is an American whiner who hasn't done any relevant in many years now. Turgeon is a ***** . And where is St. Louis' answer to the tough play of Shayne Corson, Gary Roberts, Steve Thomas and Darcy Tucker? There is none. Corson, Tucker, Yushkevich shut down Yashin in the Sens series, and they're doing a great job shutting down the Devils' attackers. They'll make short work of that wuss Turgeon and Thachuk and then shoot a few million holes through Turek. It's not even a contest. I've been watching all the Western games along with the East and I can safely say that if the Leafs make it to the finals, they can beat ANY team in the West.

ort888 · May 7, 2001, 01:23 PM

Well, I am a big fan of the Leafs, any team with Cujo on it, will be OK in my books. I dunno, you make a lot of valid points, but I stilll think you are wrong.

We will see, Leafs - Blues in the finals seems like a real possibility, then we will see for sure. You may be surprised by these Blues. They play a Eastern style defensive system, and they can run and gun with the West. We shall see. The Blues beat there Stanley cup finalist faster then your team has beat there Stanley Cup finalist.

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ort

ort888 · May 7, 2001, 01:46 PM

Just a couple more points...

You say the Eastern teams are built for the playoffs, except in the last 5 years, 4 of the winners have been Western Run n' Gun teams.

You say the Blues lack toughness and grit, well, tell that to Drake, Tkachuk, Mellenby, Mayers, and Eastwood. All tough and gritty players. You say Tkachuk has been silent for years, well, he has been on a lousy team, not dedicated to building a winner. He has been a real moose with St. Louis.

Cujo is way better then Turek, but so is Belfour, and Turek beat him.

I'm not trying to start a fight with you, but I jjust don't think you are being fair. St. Louis is ready to break out this year, I can feel it. I have stuck with this team for a long time, and this is the one of the best teams I have ever seen.

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ort

Kestral · May 7, 2001, 06:35 PM

St Louis has had much easier teams to play against vs.Toronto. San Jose and Dallas? Leafs dispatched arguably the best regular season team in the Ottawa Senators in 4 straight. The Stars are a tired bunch of geezers and vastly weakened because of key departures vs. their team of last year. As well, St Louis' series have been very mild affairs with little hitting an carnage whereas Toronto has been through war. I don't think St. Louis could take on the kind of physical carnage the Leafs and other Eastern teams can dish out. Defensively tight against milque-toast run and gun Western conference teams does not mean a great team. Depth-wise St. Louis doesn't have it either. They're a good team but area they good enough? IMO, no. My prediction stands, whomever wins the Leafs/Devils series will go on to win the Cup.

ort888 · May 7, 2001, 10:17 PM

OK, you have some major home team beer goggles on. The Sens are tougher then the Sharks or Stars? I'm not arguing with you anymore, we will let our teams battle it out and see who ends on top.

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ort

olePigeon · May 8, 2001, 10:11 PM

All I have to say about Hockey is that the Sharks sh*ted on by the f*cking refs. First they deny a 2 minute penalty that could have secured the win for Sharks all cuz "oh, there's only 3 minutes left in the period" crap.

So the Blues score in the last 3 minutes and it heads into overtime. Ref drops puck... never hits the ice and bounces off Riccie's stick as he was coming in to GET READY for the faceoff. Blues score off of a faceoff that should have been stopped immediately and redone.

Complete bullsh*t. Happened last year with the Dallas Stars too. They get crapped on by the f*cking refs. Pisses me off. And it's always in the worst possible situation.

olePigeon · May 8, 2001, 10:13 PM

And if you didn't take any hints from my rant, yes, Sharks are my favorite team.

ort888 · May 8, 2001, 11:14 PM

Refs make bad calls all the time. Every fan thinks the refs in every game screwed there team over. To get a penalty in the last 3 minutes of a 1 goal playoff game, you have to decapitate someone with your stick.

As for that bum faceoff, if it had gone off Turgeons stick, you would have a better argument, but Ricci was leaning in a bit on the faceoff, and it went off his stick. I'm sorry your team lost, but to blame a whole series on a couple bad plays is not reasonable. Trust me, as a Blues fan, I am very used to losing, and I am very used to bad calls by the refs. It stinks, but it happens, and it will always happen. What do you think the Blues fan were complaining about last year, when you beat us.

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Severed Hand of Skywalker · May 9, 2001, 03:12 AM

My good friend is dating the equipment manager of the Toronto Maple leafs, Scott. I was hanging out with a bunch of the leafs at his apartment the day after New Years 2001. Mats Sundin, Tie Domi and a few others. Not being a hockey fan it wasn't really that thrilled.

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Corys · May 9, 2001, 12:42 PM

Originally posted by Demonhood:
The Kings game almost gave me a heart attack. Double overtime with no score. The Avs haven't scored a goal in over 150 minutes of play time.

Ahh...but tonight they are going to break out tonight. Roy has been great in net (so has Potvin) but the Avs are due for a big game..
Tonight is the night to be watching if you are a hockey fan.
my predicition is Devils and Avs to advance.

murbot · May 9, 2001, 12:53 PM

Originally posted by Kestral:
St Louis has had much easier teams to play against vs.Toronto. San Jose and Dallas? Leafs dispatched arguably the best regular season team in the Ottawa Senators in 4 straight. The Stars are a tired bunch of geezers and vastly weakened because of key departures vs. their team of last year. As well, St Louis' series have been very mild affairs with little hitting an carnage whereas Toronto has been through war. I don't think St. Louis could take on the kind of physical carnage the Leafs and other Eastern teams can dish out. Defensively tight against milque-toast run and gun Western conference teams does not mean a great team. Depth-wise St. Louis doesn't have it either.

Oh Kestral!

I don't even know where to begin with you... LOL.

I'd love to see the Leafs win, being a Canadian team, but come on man... you would actually call beating the water lilly Sens a war? The Stars are a bunch of geezers and were easy to beat? The Blues couldn't handle the "physical carnage" the Leafs would dish out?

I'm afraid ort88 is right dude, you have some major home-team bear goggles on!!

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[Removed at the request of Apple Legal]

murbot · May 9, 2001, 01:26 PM

Originally posted by Kestral:
St Louis has had much easier teams to play against vs.Toronto. San Jose and Dallas? Leafs dispatched arguably the best regular season team in the Ottawa Senators in 4 straight. The Stars are a tired bunch of geezers and vastly weakened because of key departures vs. their team of last year. As well, St Louis' series have been very mild affairs with little hitting an carnage whereas Toronto has been through war. I don't think St. Louis could take on the kind of physical carnage the Leafs and other Eastern teams can dish out. Defensively tight against milque-toast run and gun Western conference teams does not mean a great team. Depth-wise St. Louis doesn't have it either.

Oh Kestral!

I don't even know where to begin with you... LOL.

I'd love to see the Leafs win, being a Canadian team, but come on man... you would actually call beating the water lilly Sens a war? The Stars are a bunch of geezers and were easy to beat? The Blues couldn't handle the "physical carnage" the Leafs would dish out?

I'm afraid ort88 is right dude, you have some major home-team bear goggles on!!

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[Removed at the request of Apple Legal]

DV · May 10, 2001, 12:54 AM

LA really pisses me off. Played absolutely horrible defense-- running around and not going for the puck or body-- just letting Colorado walk through (sometimes within about 5 feet of the crease) and letting them have their shots.

They played so well up til now. I really expected them to play at least as well as the past 10 or so games. But they seemed less confident and less willing to go after it. Colorado's the better team, but LA was showing a lot of heart up until tonight. Oh well. St. Louis would've beaten LA anyway.

DV

ort888 · May 10, 2001, 01:40 AM

Bad night for underdogs. I was really pulling for La and Toronto. Oh well, bring on the Aves. If the Aves want to win against the Bllues, they will need to take them more seriously then they took the Kings, or they won't make it to a game 7. I still can't believe the Blues are in the Conference finals. It's like some sort of dream.

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Demonhood · May 10, 2001, 02:22 AM

Quite disappointing (LA, that is). Interesting that the Kings winning ways finally end on the same day that my hockey team finally wins a game (our first one this season, 9-5, with 5 of those goals by yours truly).

Not sure if I'll watch the other series. Perhaps for inspiration at the very least.

ort888 · May 10, 2001, 04:22 PM

OUCH!

Peter Forsburg is out with a bad spleen. Gone for the rest of the playoffs. The hockey fan in me is greatly saddened that Forsburg, one of the grittiest, talented forwards in the game will miss the rest of the playoffs. The Blues fan however, is very happy that we caught a wave of great luck. After years and years of all the bad luck going the Blues way, it is nice to see some good (if you can call it that) karma. I think they are blessed this year.

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kiskiboy · May 11, 2001, 02:28 AM

Two words:

Darius Kasparaitis.

What a surprise! My Pens are going into the confernace finals. I say they have about a 40% chance of beating NJ. If hedberg can steal a game and they get a lucky bounce somewhere adn take 1 of 2 in the first two games in Continental Airlines Arena, we can win. I think the games will feature more goals than the Pit-Buf series. As a Pens fan I say the Pens get the breaks and beat the Devils in 6, and they beat the Blues in the finals in 7. I can hope I guess....

Now if the Pirates could get their heads out of their asses....

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I want an Apple PDA!!
www.creighton.edu

PeteL999 · May 11, 2001, 07:17 AM

NJ will beat the pens in 6 maybe 5. the blues have a great chance of beating the avalanhe without forsberg I'd say blues in 5....tops