A Bone-Chilling Night In Dallas

Sorry for the dearth of posting, I have been swamped with work for the past couple of days.

Anyway, now that I am not up to my heals in presentations, I wanted to share with you these videos from last night's amazing game between the Anaheim Ducks and the Dallas Stars.

Last night in Dallas was the Stars' last home game of the year and fan appreciation night. Mike Modano is at the end of a 5-year deal and from the looks of things now, he is unlikely to return next year. So what better way to send off the hometown fans then by having a night like last night.

With the game tied at 1 in the 3rd period and a brief pause in the action, Mike Modano was shown on the JumboTron. What followed was a well-deserved standing ovation for one of the game's greatest players. You might want to break out your hankeys now because you are going to need them.



"That was friggen awesome" - Daryl Reaugh (side note: he better be back with Versus come playoff time!)

But the night for Modano and teary-eyed tributes was not over yet. With a little 4 minutes to go, the Ducks scored making it 2-1. But that would not be the end of the game, not by a long shot.

With time ticking down and a little under 2 minutes to go, the Stars were able to tie the game. I'll give you 3 guesses as to who scored it......



The goal would stand. It would (rightfully) count. There's no video on YouTube from the broadcast where they count the goal, but I have one better. Here is a video taken from inside the American Airlines Center in Dallas of the crowd reaction when the refs announced that Modano's goal would stand.



You think that was the end of the night? Nope, not yet.

The game would go to overtime. Overtime would turn into a shootout. And in that shootout would star 3 Dallas players who have all spent their entire career there and are all unlikely to return to Dallas next year: Marty Turco, Jere Lethinen, and who else, but Mike Modano.



If that does not sent chills up your spine then I don't know what will.

Congrats to Mike Modano on a fantastic career, and after viewing this, I hope he does retire. You will not find a better home-ice career-ending moment than this one.

(Hat tip to Puck Daddy; Be alert for a Flyers-Rangers live blog later tonight. A Flyers win ends the madness.)

Scott Niedermayer's Stick Causes Fights

Having been to many a hockey game in my life, I can say that it is always a good time to see who gets named the star of the game and then seeing that player skate on the ice for a few seconds and wave to everyone. That being said, never in my life did I think that anything could ever go horribly wrong with it. Well, it turns out I'm wrong. Last night, after being named the star of the game, the classy veteran captain of the Anaheim Ducks, Scott Neidermayer thought it would be a good idea to and his hockey stick to a little girl in the audience. Good idea, terrible execution. Watch as the little girl does not exactly get the stick, but rather, 2 guys who, with the aid of lots of alcohol, channel their inner hockey player and get into a fight over the stick.



Good times! You gotta love Neidermayer's reaction to the whole thing as well. Helpless to do anything, he stood there and saw the whole thing.

In fact, during an interview, he was even asked a question about the sudden instabrawl that broke out.



Somehow I don't think that little girl will ever get that stick. What a shame as it was a really nice and classy gesture from Neidermayer that just went horribly and yet, very hilariously awry.

VIDEO: Fight breaks out over Neidermayer's stick (SB Nation)

So What NHL Player Is Worth Giving Up Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa, This Year's 1st Round Pick, And Next Year's First Round Pick?

The answer, at least according to the Philadelphia Flyers is none other than Chris Pronger! Via NHL.com

The Anaheim Ducks kicked off the 2009 NHL Entry Draft in memorable fashion, dealing veteran defenseman Chris Pronger to the Philadelphia Flyers moments before the New York Islanders selected John Tavares with the first pick.

The Flyers shipped prospect Luca Sbisa, forward Joffrey Lupul and two first-round picks: this season's No. 21 and next season's first-round pick.

Pronger, 34, was one of several players being actively shopped here this week. He became even more expendable when veteran defenseman Scott Niedermayer reportedly told the Ducks that he would return for another season, instead of retiring.

This past season Pronger played in all 82 games, scoring 11 goals and 48 points. He also had 88 penalty minutes and will give the Flyers a rugged presence on the blue line, something they were lacking after losing Derian Hatcher to an injury-induced retirement.

While the Flyers certainly need a defensemen, especially after Hatcher's retirement, what worries me is Pronger's age and the fact that the Flyers paid such a high price to get him. I can live with saying goodbye to Lupul and Spisa, a young prospect, but I think that 2 first round picks might be a lot, if not too much for him. One 1st round draft pick, whether it be this year's and next year's along with Spisa and Lupul and I would consider this deal an absolute win. It's that 2nd 1st rounder that has worried that the Flyers paid too many bucks for the bang of a 34-year old defensemen, even though it is Chris Pronger.

Regardless, I certainly hope that Pronger still has gas and the tank and despite the high price, I am excited and glad to see that Chris Pronger is now a Flyer!

Update: According to Puck Daddy, the Flyers have also received Ryan Dingle from the Anaheim Ducks in this deal. Trust me, you're not the only one asking, "Who on earth.....???" I'm pretty sure he's a young prospect....

What. A. Night

That was about one of the most exciting 4 hours of hockey I have witnessed in a long, long time. 2 Game 7s and one of them went into ovetime and the other only had a game-winning and series-winning goal with 3 minutes left in the game. Which quite frankly, for the NHL nowadays, is pretty much your average, run-of-the-mill day! But alas, I will allow the videos to do the speaking on last night. First up, here's Cleary!



And now, into overtime we go ahd Scott Walker, you who has never scored in ovetime goal in your NHL career, the ice is yours!



Just an incredible night and 2 incredible games. I will have the schedules up tomorrow, but we'v3e got the Red Wings and the Blackhawks in the Western Conference Finals and the Hurricanes and the Penguins in the Eastern Conference Finals. It should be good times, indeed and I will try to have some more live blogs up for you guys as we progress deeper into the playoffs (I won't live blog everything, but I'll do some on nights I'll be around all night). Oh yeah, one last thing. Who in the blue hell is this and why on Earth did Versus/TSN think it was a good idea to flash him on the screen for 2 seconds during the 3rd period of the Hurricanes-Bruins game?



JC guessed Boris Yeltsin and frankly I think he may be on to something. Your thoughts on 2 things here, first of all, is that Boris Yeltsin? And if so, then why on earth would the Versus/TSN even have a picture of him????????

NHL Playoffs Day 28 Live Blog

I'm going to do this anyway even though I will most likely be in and out for the evening (including possibly missing the start). I was hoping to do one last night but I got home literally 5-minutes until game time and I had not eaten yet (and I was starving, btw) and there was no time to set up the blog. Plus add on top of that the fact that I was exhausted and there was just no flipping way it was happening. But it is tonight! So get your comments and your funny ready, it should be a heck of a night (well, on the bright side, it can't be worse than last night).

Tonight's games....

Game 7: Anaheim @ Detroit 7:00 (Versus - Dave Strader and Darren Eliot, SR: Lindsay Soto) (CBC - Bob Cole and Greg Millen, SR: Elliotte Friedman)

Game 7: Carolina @ Boston 8:00 (Versus - will JIP TSN broadcast) (TSN - Gord Miller, ItG: Pierre McGuire)

Enjoy the games and leave comments (unless you're a troll named Nathan and/or a "sports reporter" from Detroit and/or Boston!)

Brad Watson Beat The Detroit Red Wings Last Night

Umm....I kind of forgot to post this this morning. Anyway, here is the Anaheim screwjob from last night. The video says all.



The refs definitley blew that call big time. Just unbelieveable. And while I am not a Detroit Red Wings fan, when something is that obvious like that and they don't get the appropriate call, your heart has to go out of them. Here's hoping they can rebound in Game 4 to make it a series and let referee Brad Watson off the hook a bit.

The First Multi-Overtime Game Is A 3 OT Thriller

Wow. What a game in Detroit. The Anaheim Ducks and the Red Wings took it down to the wire and then some. Before today, there had never been a game that went past the first OT (you can thank Gary Bettman for that), but the old style playoff hockey returned today in Detroit as we got treated to a 3 OT thriller, which was won by the Anaheim Ducks 4-3. I'll have the highlights of this thriller from the nhlvideo YouTube channel tomorrow night (I'll add it as an update to this post).



While I am pretty sure that I'm the only one around these parts that is rooting for Anaheim in this series, it was a good game all around. And is it just me or is it that in the long overtime games the team that gets the most chances normally ends up losing the game?

I Submit To You Last-Minute Game-Winning Goal Version 4.0 (Plus I Finally Put Up The Video From Last Night's Celtics-Bulls Game 6 Instant Classic)

While the Bulls and Celtics may be having one of the greatest playoff series in recent memory, the rest of the NBA Playoffs has been lackluster and full of blowouts and predictable series. Meanwhile, from top to bottom, the NHL has been having what may be overall one of the greatest playoffs we have ever seen. And as evidenced, here is an NHL record 4th game-winning goal in the last minute of the post season. Think about that....NHL Record 4th game-winning goal in the last minute....THIS IS GAME 1 OF THE CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS! Unbelieveable. Nick Lidstrom, the floor (or in this case, ice) is yours....



Just unbelieveable. And seeing as I kind of jipped my NBA fans earlier by posting the Zito video instead of the Bulls-Celtics video from last night, I'll post it here anyway. The reason I did not post the Bulls-Celtics vid was becasue I was more into looking into particulars that I wanted on here (Noah, the block by Rose, etc. and I was too lazy and in too much of a hurry to link over to AA). So while I have a "Crazy Finish" post up, I guess you can enjoy for the 100th time now, what is without a doubt the greatest NBA game I have ever seen. For highlights of the end of regulation, we turn to AA's video.



Well, that was exciting, wasn't it? Well, if you have the time, here is the 3rd overtime in it's entirety starting with the end of the 2nd OT. (The video has been spliced into 3 parts and for those curious, I just discovered this video as I was searching YouTube).

Triple OT Part 1 (7.6 to go in 2nd OT to 1:42 to go in 3rd OT)


Triple OT Part 2 (1:39 to go in 3rd OT to 28.3 to go in 3rd OT)


Triple OT Part 3 (28.3 to go to the end of the game)


Simply amazing.

Conference Semifinals Simulated: Anaheim vs. Detroit

Over the next 48 hours or so, I will have up simulations of the NHL conference semifinal series. And while I can't guarantee you that I will have all of them done by Thursday at 9 (when the Chicago-Vancouver series starts), I can guarantee you that I will have all of them up by the time each series' respective game 1 starts (in other words, I will have Vancouver-Chicago up by 9 PM tomorrow and so on and so forth). Enjoy!

Game 1: Game 1 had quite the intense start with the Red Wings getting multiple chances on goal! And they would cap off those chances with a PENALTY SHOT! Pronger did not agree with the call and got a 10-minute misconduct! Meanwhile on the penalty shot SAMUELSSON SCORES! 1-0 Detroit! But that would not last for them. Despite being heavily out-shot, the Ducks would score 4 of the games’ next 5 goals to take a 4-2 lead in Detroit! But the Red Wings would battle back, with A GOAL BY DANIEL CLEARY WITH 3:02 TO GO! And the Red Wings have a chance in this one! The Red Wings would continue to pound Jonas Hiller with chances but he came up huge each time! And now Osgood is pulled! 1-MINUTE TO GO! SHOT BY RAFALSKI IS SAVED BY HILLER! STUART….NO!!! ZETTERBERG…STOPPED BY HILLER!! AND THAT’S IT!!! DUCKS TAKE GAME 1 IN AN UPSET!! 4-3 OVER THE RED WINGS! And the Ducks lead the series 1-0!

Game 2: Once again, the Detroit Red Wings outshot the Anaheim Ducks. This time, by a total of 55-37, but this game, unlike the last won was a blow-out win. For the Anaheim Ducks, that is! Jonas Hiller was a flat out beast in net, stopping 53 of 55 shots as the Ducks have apparently discovered Chris Osgood’s weakness. Goals by Ken Klee, 2 for Corey Perry, Scott Niedermeyer and Chris Kunitz made this one a 5-2 laugher win for the #7-seeded Ducks and they lead the series 2 games to none as the series moves to the Honda Center.

Game 3: The Detroit Red Wings were relatively limited on shots on goal this game, only getting 38, by far their lowest shot total of the season. But naturally, this was also the game that Anaheim could not light up Osgood like they did twice in Detroit. The Wings scored with 32 seconds left in the 1st when Brett Lebda knocked it home. The Ducks would retaliate 4 SECONDS LATER WITH A DRIVE BY ROB NIEDERMEYER! Into the 2nd and the Red Wings would take back the led with a Holmstrom goal. Into the 3rd, not much action so we will take you to the exciting finish with the pulling of Jonas Hiller…SUTHERBY A DRIVE…..STOPPED BY OSGOOD! PUCK GOES TO GETZLAF! CHANCE; SAVE OSGOOD!!! GETZLAF AGAIN….DENIED BY OSGOOD!!! AND THE RED WINGS CLEAR THE ZONE!!! UNDER 15 TO GO….DUCKS TRYING TO PENETRATE!! DRIVE BY NIEDERMEYER IS BLOCKED AND THE PUCK IS CLEARED AGAIN AND THAT’LL DO IT!!! RED WINGS TAKE GAME 3, 2-1! But the Ducks still lead the series 2-1 as we head into Game 4.

Game 4: The road team has won every game in this series thus far, and this one from Anaheim would be no different. And this one was rather ugly. The Red Wings notched 2 goals in the 1st period and they never looked back despite a scoreless 2nd period. They would go up 4-1 in the 3rd before settling for a 4-2 victory after a garbage time goal for the Ducks by Travis Moen. But the big news is that heading back to the the Joe, this series is tied at 2.

Game 5: The Detroit Red Wings were back to their old home ways of heavily out-shooting their foe, but this one would not be decided by shots on goal. The Ducks started things off in the 1st with a goal by Corey Perry. But in the 2nd period THE RED WINGS WOULD SCORE 4 GOALS!, including 2 goals at 5 seconds apart when the game was tied at 2! The Ducks would manage 1 goal in that period as alluded to, but they would be down 4-2 at the break setting up the 3rd period. 47 SECONDS INTO THE 3RD AND BOBBY RYAN SCORES!! AND THE RED WING LEAD IS DOWN TO 1!! Can the Ducks complete the comeback? YES THEY CAN!! WITH UNDER 11 MINUTES TO GO, CHRIS KUNITZ HAS TIED IT AT 4!! The Red Wings would do some more dominating of the shots, but they could not beat Hiller as we end up settling for OVERTIME! In OT, the Ducks and Red Wings tried to settle down a bit, with neither team getting too many shots or chances. 9:18 to go in the 1st OT and Draper is coming in, takes a SHOT…SAVED BY HILLER!! The Ducks take it the other way. PERRY A SHOT….SAVED BY OSGOOD!!! Whistle blows as the net is off it’s moorings. Faceoff won by the Ducks. Getzlaf wins the draw. Passes it to to Kunitz. Kunitz to Perry. PERRY TAKES THE SHOT AND HE SCORES!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE DUCKS HAVE WON GAME 5 IN OVERTIME AND THEY HAVE TAKEN A 3-2 SERIES LEAD!!!! UNBELIEVEABLE!!!!

Game 6: The Red Wings looked to continue the trend of the road teams winning with an early goal in the 1st 24 seconds by Hossa! Both teams would had a goal to their total in the 2nd period to make it 2-1 Detroit heading into the 3rd period of a key Game 6. Can the Red Wings continue the trend? Can the Ducks break the trend and take the series? Wisneiwski shoots it….SAVE! Another chance for Getzlaf and Osgood stops it again! Can the Ducks break through? Can they tie the series? CHANCE BY RYAN AND HE KNOCKS IT HOME!!! THE DUCKS HAVE TIED THE GAME!!! Back and forth they go afterward….UNDER A MINUTE IN REGULATION! TIED AT 2 IN GAME 6! 27 SECONDS TO GO….HOSSA SNAPS IT…….SAVE BY HILLER!!!! NO REBOUND NO MORE CHANCES!! OVERTIME IN GAME 6!!! In OT, the Red Wings do what they have done best and dominate play but nothing on the scoreboard. PENALTY ON ANAHEIM!! BUT WAIT, SHORTHANDED! DRIVE BY EBBETT….SAVED BY OSGOOD!!! WHAT A CHANCE!! The Red Wings take it the other way on the Power Play. Datsuyk shoots it and it’s saved by Hiller! REBOUND BY RAFALSKI AND HE CAN’T GET IT BY HILLER! Time continues to tick in the 1st OT, approaching the end of it. SHOT BY PARROS AND IT’S SAVED BY OSGOOD! REBOUND BRAD MAY OFF THE BACKHAND……NO!!! SAVED BY OSGOOD!! No other chances in the 1st OT means Double OT in the Honda Duck Pond. Not too many golden opportunities in this OT. You can tell the fatigue is setting in. It’s been a grueling series thus far and it’s been illustrated thus far in this Double OT. Under 5 to go in Double OT……SHOT BY DATSUYK…SAVED BY HILLER!! And now we’re under a minute in double OT! KUNITZ SHOOTS IT……HE SCORES!!!!!!!!!!! KUNITZ SCORES!!!!! KUNITZ SCORES!!!!!! THE DUCKS HAVE WON THE GAME!!!! THE DUCKS WIN GAME 6!!!! THEY’VE WON THE SERIES!!! THE 8-SEEDED ANAHEIM DUCKS ARE GOING TO THE CONFERENCE FINALS!! UNBELIEVEABLE!!! UNBELIEVEABLE!!!!