Pretty good series... the best team won!

Red Wings 3, Penguins 2 - Penguins Raise Scare, but Red Wings Raise Cup

For a moment there, I thought that the Penguins might pull it off; but Detroit hung on last night and took the Cup.
If you look at the stats for the series (or if you watched the games), it is fairly safe to say that the Red Wings outplayed the Penguins by a wide margin; but Messrs. Crosby and Company kept coming back to life when you least expected it; and it made for some fabulous hockey along the way. The Wings certainly deserved this win, and Pittsburgh should be proud of the way they responded - if they can keep their team together for a year or two (very questionable since they have 7 players headed for free-agency) they should have some Sterling of their own.

They were not good enough...

The End Comes Hard

Yesterday's Ranger game was pretty much an encapsulation of their entire season - they fell behind in a desperate situation, found a way to come back, and then found yet another way to lose. The piss-poor refereeing aside, the Rangers were pretty much over-matched against a Pittsburgh team with perhaps the best collection of offensive weapons in the NHL, and a bad case of the nasties.

Playoff hockey requires a snarl that the Rangers seemed incapable of. Their defense was far too well-mannered in front of their own net; and, especially yesterday, they allowed the Penguins to take far too many liberties with Jagr (who did not have a single shot on net). Did anyone besides me notice how Malkin physically mistreated Paul Mara after he scored his incredible backhand goal? All this, plus a few other mental and physical mistakes made it virtually impossible for the Blue Shirts to prevail.

There is much needed to be done for next year. For now, all I can say is "So it goes..."

A crushing defeat (for me, too)

Its Notre Dame vs. B.C. for the Title

The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, the only four seed to make the Frozen Four, beat top-rated Michigan in an overtime thriller on Thursday to advance to the NCAA championship game. The Irish will play Boston College on Saturday at the Pepsi Center in Denver.

Calle Ridderwall, who opened the scoring, finished it, too, getting the winner for the Irish at 5:44 of overtime. A Notre Dame point shot rebounded high in the slot to Ridderwall, who fired it by freshman goalie Bryan Hogan.

I fell asleep for the last half of the third period, and missed the overtime too. And then I yelled (scaring the heck out of my poor wife) when I checked my iPhone at 7 this morning when I saw the news. It was tied 3-3 when I conked-out; and I figured that in erasing a 3-0 deficit the Wolverines were in great shape to overcome the horrendous goaltending from Billy Sauer (sorry, Billy, you know it's true) and take their rightful place in the final against B.C. It was not to be.

Anything can happen in OT; and obviously it did. This was a great Michigan hockey team. All season they played a confident, aggressive game; and even though they only has 2 seniors, their inexperience was turned into a positive the whole year. It's a shame that Sauer folded, because it was his play (especially in the first half of the season) that gave them the confidence to play the way they did. But for the last month you could see that Billy was not just the same goaltender; and I worried about the tournament because of it. There is no way they should have lost to Notre Dame; and I predict now that BC will crush them in the final - Michigan was the only team that stood a chance against the BC juggernaut that is seeking revenge for losing in the last 2 finals.

There goes part of my Dream Weekend... Oh well. Go Tiger! Go Rangers! Go Mets?

Who cares about the basketball?

Michigan Is Still No. 1

The Wolverines played a great game last night, and came away with a well deserved victory in the CCHA tournament against the Redhawks of Miami University. Congrats on a great season; and one more mountain to climb in the Frozen Four ...

Happy Birthday, Bobby!!

I was there for Bobby Orr's first game ever in Madison Square Garden in 1966; and I can still remember my father telling me how this crew-cut, blonde, 18 year-old kid was supposed to become the greatest hockey player ever. This video is a tribute to #4 from his fellow players on his 60th birthday (where have all my hockey years gone?) Notice first how many of the highlights are against the Rangers - I remember, and was present for many of those moments; and then realize how short Orr's career really was - just 10 injury-plagued (and too many of those just partial) years.

Nobody, not Gretsky, not Sid the Kid, not Potvin or Leetch was ever as good.

They really do hate our boy

Glad he's on our team; but he certainly has the whole league in an uproar.

Well Deserved

Leetch’s No. 2 to Assume a Lofty Perch at the Garden:

"Leetch, 39, vividly recalled his debut. He had arrived from the Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, knowing no one on the team. Before he took the ice, the Garden crowd was chanting, “U.S.A., U.S.A.” and right after the opening face-off, his teammate Chris Nilan got into a fight with a St. Louis player."

I just finished watching the ceremony at home (my son took the tickets for the evening). Better and shorter than the one for Messier, and a bit too staged - there is a lack of spontaneity in these buildings nowadays; but nobody deserved this more. Only the second player ever to receive the Calder, Norris and Con Smythe trophies during his career (Bobby Orr); and, for me, the only other guy would could wear Brad Park's #2 on his back.

An unbelievable career marred only by the way he was traded from the team in 2004, and a captaincy that he never handled very well after Messier's departure in 1997. Maybe the greatest American born player ever; and maybe more than any other Ranger - the team never recovered from his loss.

Still #1...Go Blue!

AnnArbor, Mich:

The top-ranked University of Michigan ice hockey team rebounded from a two-goal deficit to pull out a 3-2 victory over No. 8 Notre Dame Friday (Jan. 18) at Yost Ice Arena. In front of 6,984 fans -- the second-largest crowd since Yost's renovation in 1996-97 -- Louie Caporusso (Woodbridge, Ontario) sealed the U-M win with just 20.3 seconds remaining in the game.

This is just a great team to watch. They are fast, skilled and very snarly - I wish the Rangers showed this kind of passion. With only 2 seniors on the squad, nobody, even the coach, thought they would be this good. In 2 weeks they go up against #2 Miami, Ohio - my alma mater - for a home and home weekend. It should be a doozie.