Eff You, Logan Couture

If the Penguins come back and take the Atlantic Division, the Flyers will have but one man to blame: Logan Couture of the San Jose Sharks. Coming into the game 7 points behind the Flyers, the Penguins needed to salvage anything they could against the visiting San Jose Sharks. Just getting one point out of the game would be a huge improvement to the Penguins situation as being 6 points behind the Flyers (3 games) with is much better than being 7 points out (4 games). With just over a minute left, and up by a goal, Logan Couture had a chance to put the game out of reach with an empty net goal. Only instead of scoring, this happened.



The Sharks could not win it in the last minute and the game went to overtime. It does not matter that the Sharks would go on to win the game in awesome fashion in said overtime. The fact of the matter is the Penguins got a crucial Bettman point. The Penguins are now three games behind the Flyers instead of four because of Couture's inability to perform simple tasks to skate up to an empty net and put the puck in. So if it comes down to it, and the Penguins win the Atlantic Division by 1 point, there will be only one man worthy of your scorn in the NHL. Your potential 2010-2011 Philadelphia Flyers goat: Logan Couture, ladies and gentlemen!

Live From The Nassau Coliseum, It's Friday Night Fights!

Flyers-Senators Version 2.0? Bruins-Habs earlier this week? Before today, those games were considered the fight games of the year. Not anymore. Remember 9 days ago when Brent Johnson KO'd Rick DiPietro in 1 punch, fracturing some of DP's bones and knocking him out for 4-6 weeks?

Well for the Islanders tonight was all about revenge, and boy oh boy did they ever get it. Admittedly, a lot of the stunts the Isles pulled tonight were dirty, but I have a hard time gathering any sympathy for the Pittsburgh Penguins, a team that employs Matt Cooke. While there were many more scrums than this, here are the big fights courtesy of hockeyfights.com.



And if all those fights were not enough, the Islanders won the game 9-3. Here are the NHL.com highlights.



Oof. Now that's what I call a revenge game. Currently, the number is 351 PIMs, but the number has continued to rise as the night as gone on. It is unlikely that this will ultimately surpass the 2004 Senators-Flyers game which featured 419 combined penalty minutes thanks to 5 end of game fights/brawls in the span of a minute, but over 300 is closer than I ever thought anyone would ever get to touching that record.

This Penguins loss means the Flyers remain 3 points ahead of the Penguins in the Atlantic Division and with some Penguin players sure to be suspended because of this fiasco on top of their semmingly endlessly mounting injuries. The Flyers have to feel they are in a good position right now as long as they continue playing at the high level they have been playing at and to continue to successfully avoid the injury bug that has plagued the Penguins.

Update: Here is a video with the Islanders announcers calling every fight/skirmish in the 1st period. Here is a video with the Islanders announcers calling every fight/skirmish in the 2nd period. Here is a video with the Islanders announcers calling every fight/skirmish in the 3rd period. I can assure you these are much easier on the ears.

Mike Richards Does What Every Hockey Fan Dreams Of

And that is beating the carcass of renowned dirty player Matt Cooke.



This was just the start of a stretch of 3 minutes and 59 seconds that saw 11 penalties called, only 4 of which were for fighting, including the two here to Richards and Cooke. Granted the shots at the end that Richards got in were while Cooke was on a knee and thus not the cleanest beatdowns you'll see, it must be considered that the player getting beaten down is Matt Cooke, therefore, some leeway will be provided. Following the last meeting between the Flyers and the Penguins this season, Mike Richards made some rather unflattering comments about the Pens that probably drew some ire. It is good to see that unlike some people probably would, Mike Richards did not hide from his words and the captain of the Flyers fought the Penguins biggest goon. Now if only we could have gotten Sidney Crosby to fight Dan Carcillo.....

The Flyers And Penguins Make A Trade At The Draft

The Flyers have a grand total of 0 draft picks, but holy hell was today full of Flyers rumors. The most prominent one being that the Flyers want the rights of Evgeni Nabokov. They are apparently in competition with one other team, who is yet to be named. The deal could get done either later tonight or tomorrow, sources are contradicting themselves, as they have all evening long.

As far as the Flyers trading the rights to Dan Hamhuis to Pittsburgh is concerned, let's make one thing perfect, the Flyers did exactly that. They traded away his rights. His rights. Pittsburgh still has to sign him, and if the rumors are true that Hamhuis only wants to play for a Western Conference team (or Pittsburgh just can't sign him), the Flyers would have officially conned the Pittsburgh Penguins out of a 3rd round draft pick in the 2011 draft. That ain't too shabby, folks. But if he does sign with Pittsburgh, then it is definitely trouble for the Flyers as Pittsburgh signing Hamhuis would likely make Pittsburgh better, provided he does not give them the big cap hit that he is projected to give wherever he does end up signing and Pittsburgh keep Sergei Gonchar, which is looking more and more unlikely. Sergei Gonchar is better than Hamhuis, and if Hamhuis is Gonchar's direct replacement, then once again, the Flyers would have just conned the Penguins.

Now the million dollar question: Is Evgeni Nabokov the next goaltender for the Philadelphia Flyers? Unless the Sharks give the Flyers the world's greatest discount, the answer better be no.

When Did E. Stan Kroenke Buy GM Place, HP Pavilion, And Mellon Arena?

What is it with these arena owners and them having little to no faith that their hockey team is going to advance past the first round of the playoffs? Last year it was the Denver Broncos and their fun little encounter with WWE, this year it is the Sharks, Canucks, Penguins, and musicians whose combined age must be 832 years old. All three of the arenas these teams play in could potentially host Games 1 and 2 of the Conference Semifinals while hosting other events.

For your schedule of incompetency, here is what is scheduled when at these three arenas.

HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA: An Eagles concert this Friday and Saturday. Welcome to the Hotel Schedule Conflict. Such a lovely place....

GM Place in Vancouver, BC: A Simon & Garfunkel concert this Thursday and a Brooks & Dunn (WHO???????) concert on Saturday. I know nothing about the latter, but if you want to listen to the Sounds of Silence, all you have to do is lock yourself in your room for a few hours. There's no need to go to a concert for it.

Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, PA: Stars on Ice this Thursday. Uh.....you mean to say that a ticket has actually been bought for this? Couldn't they at least liven things up and bring back Yanni?

I have no idea what to say other than whomever books these things lack foresight or they just don't believe in the winningness of their hockey team. I know the Sharks expected to get bounced in the first round, but Vancouver and Pittsburgh? Really?

It's things like this that make you go, "wow, we really live in a world or morons, incompetent morons." Or possibly in a world of greedy arena owners who find ways to squeeze out as many pennies as they possibly can. The latter really is looking like a likely option, isn't it?

(Hat tip to From The Rink)

Assessing Pros And Cons Of The Flyers Post-Season Options

There is a week of regular season hockey remaining and the Philadelphia Flyers are locked in a tight playoff race. Will they make the playoffs? Will they choke it all way? I don't know, but this post will assess the pros and cons of every outcome for the Flyers season, as frankly, there are pros and cons to every remaining outcome.

Choking And Missing Out On The Playoffs

Pros: You mean there are pros to a choke job? Yes. Sure it will be embarrassing and I don't want to see it, but let's face facts, despite the pre-season predictions by the Hockey Almanac, the Philadelphia Flyers are not a Stanley Cup team. On average in the post-lockout league, it takes around 93 points to make the playoffs (this goes for both conferences). Should they win out, the Flyers will max out at 90. That's still 3 points short of what it normally takes and this Flyers team winning 3 more in a row is realistically highly unlikely. This team never developed a chemistry together, as of the moment have 4 playoff goalies with the only one known outside of the Flyers contingent being Brian Boucher (unless you have heard of Johan Backlund, Jeremy Duchesne, and Michael Lee Teslak). I'll have a bit more on Boucher when I look at the pros and cons of the Devils, but really, this is not a threatening team in the playoffs.

Cons: Duh. Like I said, even if a team has no chance of winning it, you still want to see your team in the playoffs, if for no other reason than to have your suspicions confirmed. And even though it is highly unlikely to happen to the Flyers, if they can get hot, the Eastern Conference is not exactly uber-threatening this year (read: it sucks), who knows what can happen.

Now that we've gotten the not-making playoffs situation, the following will be the pros and cons of all of the possible first round match-ups for the Flyers.

New Jersey Devils

Pros: Ask Flyers fans which match-up they like best, and almost all of them will say New Jersey. The pros to this series are really simple in that the Flyers dominated the regular season against the Devils, taking 5 of the 6 games against them. The Devils are a team not as hot as they were in the beginning of the year, Martin Brodeur is not getting any younger and the Devils continue to overuse him like it was his earlier years. Now I know you don't need a Vezina caliber goalie to take this thing, but you need a goalie who won't make dumb mistakes. Fatigue, overused goalies make dumb mistakes. Frankly, the Devils are the only team I have pure confidence that we can beat should we make the playoffs. And then there is the Flyers goalie Brian Boucher. 10 years ago, he played the Devils in the playoffs and even though that series ended in the biggest hockey heartbreak I have ever felt and the worst sports moment I have ever seen live in person, that does not change the fact that earlier in the series he made the greatest save I have ever seen a Flyers goalie make (cue Steve Levy and Darren Pang!)



Cons: Regular season success against a team does not always equate to post-season success against said team. Just ask the Montreal Canadiens. In the 2007-08 regular season, the Habs were 4-0 against the Flyers. Then their conference semifinal playoff series came along and Carey Price turned into the Carey Price we all know today and the Flyers won the series 4 games to 1 in a series that could have just as easily been 4-0. The Flyers are capable of a complete offensive breakdown and who says Martin Brodeur can't channel his play of 10 years ago in an inspired effort for New Jersey. The Devils also have one of the top scorers in the world in Ilya Kovalchuk. He has under-performed since coming to New Jersey but who is to say he does not break out in the playoffs like he is very much capable of?

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pros: Like I said, the Flyers are not winning the Stanley Cup this year. That being said, a successful first round knock out of the Pittsburgh Penguins would be just as good. They got us in the 2008 Eastern Conference Finals and the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals. Revenge would sure as well be sweet, especially seeing as the Pens would be losing to a team not likely to win the whole thing. And it's not like the Flyers have gotten their butts kicked by the Pens all year long. They have played close games this year.

Cons: Most of those close games have been just that for the Flyers, close calls, good efforts, and oh, we'll get 'em next times. The Flyers have beaten them this year, but the Pens took the season series and face it, when it comes to post-season hockey, Sidney Crosby has our number. He does not lose to the Flyers in post-season hockey. And as sweet as beating the Pens would be, could you imagine the laughter from Pens fans if they eliminate the hated Flyers 3 years in a row? It would be unbearable.

Washington Capitals

Pros: Even though the Caps have the most points in the league, you almost have to pro-rate the Southeast Division, as let's face it, outside of Washington, that division is terrible. The only other team in that division still in the playoff race is the Atlanta Thrashers and they are 3 points out of 8th with 3 games left and games against the Penguins, Devils, and Capitals to close out the season. Thus begs the question, are they really that good? Of the 8 Eastern Conference playoff teams, are tied with the Penguins for having given up the most goals in the regular season (222). If the Flyers offense can play consistently well for that series, it might be as much of a laughter as one would initially think. Then again, I think you can say that about any time heading into the post-season against Washington.

Cons: Scoring 5 goals on Washington will do you no good if the Caps are going to score 6 goals on you. Again I say, you don't need a Vezina caliber goalie to win (though against a team like Washington, it certainly would not hurt), but you need solid defensive play and you need a team to play well in front of that goalie to give someone like Brian Boucher as much of a chance as possible. For some reason, the Flyers have not played well in front of Brian Boucher this season. They have made him a scapegoat amongst the fans when most of the goals he lets in have been unstoppable. And the most notable ones that were his fault occurred at a point in time where the goals made the game 4-0 and 5-1 in favor of the Islanders. That being said, Boucher may have to make some spectacular saves if the Flyers want to win a series with Washington. And even if Boosh can make great saves, this series will come down to how the Flyers play defensively and let's face it, the Flyers defense has been inconsistent all year long. Boosh will be handcuffed and an unfair scapegoat in this series.

Buffalo Sabres

Pros: The Sabres are not a team that scares a lot of people, but should they? They are fighting for a 2-seed and have one of the top goalies in the sport on their team. But why are they constantly being overlooked? The lack of a real star is certainly possible. Not being in a big market is another. Admittedly I have not seen a lot of the Sabres this year but does I have seen them play the Flyers this year and when watching them, I just get the sense that this team is not going to do anything this year. Does anyone feel like this Sabre team is going to win it all? The Flyers have been a team that plays well against good, big-named goalies but struggle against the young goalies. Seriously. Vesa Toskala actually shut the Flyers out once this year. Anton Khudobin made his NHL debut with the Wild against us and won 2-1. Jeff Deslauriers of Edmonton shut us out. Ryan Miller is certainly in the category of the former. Does that would not bode well for most teams bode well for the Flyers?

Cons: When Ryan Miller's back is against the wall, it does not matter how good you are against good goalies, the guy can flat out play goaltender. We saw it in the Olympics and if he is not burned out, we'll see it again in the playoffs. And Buffalo may not have huge offensive superstars that are heard about everyday in the hockey world outside of Buffalo, but they 223 goals this year, which is good for 4th among Eastern Conference Playoff teams and 5th overall in the Eastern Conference, so it's not like these guys are offensively anemic.

While highly unlikely, the Flyers can also play the Ottawa Senators in the playoffs. But due to it's unlikeliness and the fact that Donovan McNabb has just reportedly been traded to the Washington Redskins I won't get into breaking that one down now.

A P.S. To Yesterday's Rant

Normally I would just add this as an update to yesterday's rant, but because I don't want to take away from the last paragraph, I will make a brief post on this because not only did the NHL Officials completely flub up the rules in yesterday's Flyers-Penguins game in their process of getting to the call (another screw up in that department was they looked at the jumbotron, something they can't do), but they screwed up the call. Here is photographic evidence that Marc-Andre Fleury was indeed out of the crease at the point of contact and photographic evidence that Ville Leino did his best to avoid contact.




From these pictures, you can see Ville Leino did his best to stop and avoid contact with Fleury (though the refs did rule incidental contact they did not enforce the play as such) by putting on his brakes and Marc-Andre Fleury was at least a foot out of his crease as you can clearly see from the overhead, thus Leino cannot be faulted for said incidental contact.

(Hat tip to Pro Hockey Talk and Broad Street Hockey)

NHL To Investigate FSN Pittsburgh Incident (UPDATED WITH SUSPENSION ANNOUNCEMENT)

It took awhile, but the story of FSN Pittsburgh not giving the NHL adequate video replay to review a goal is finally picking up a head of steam. So much so that the NHL has decided to step in and investigate the incident itself. From Philly.com

The NHL is investigating Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh for not sending all available camera angles to league headquarters in Toronto for Simon Gagne’s apparent goal that was under review against the Penguins last Thursday, league spokesman Gary Meagher confirmed to the Daily News.

FSN Pittsburgh, who had the game’s only video feed, sent all of the camera angles of the replay except the one that clearly showed the puck over the goal line.

Comcast SportsNet elected to not use their own video feed during the game, one CSN employee said on Monday. CSN would have been able to send their own replays to the NHL's War Room in Toronto if they had used their own feed.

"Hockey Operations did not have a definitive replay that showed the puck in the net - and weren't aware that one existed - until after they made their ruling," said John Dellapina, another NHL spokesman. "Once the puck dropped, their ruling became permanent."

The NHL has given no indication as to length of the investigation or what penalties may come of it.

Said Meagher: "It's a matter between the League, the Penguins and FSN that will be handled internally."

Now the Flyers did comfortably win that game and while it then robbed Gagne of his 500th point, he would pick it up a few days later and on home ice, no less. So while that all worked out well, there is a bigger matter at stake here and that is the integrity of the game. Has FSN Pittsburgh been doing this for quite some time now? Was this an isolated coincidental oversight, or was this a deliberate act by the network to try to rob the opposing team of a goal? And maybe most compelling of all, have other networks deliberately tried and gotten away with the same thing? And before you jump at me for insinuating such a horrid thing, may I remind you of Tim Donaghy? Just because you are supposed to be impartial and do your job, does not mean it always happens and scandals do happen, as was the case with Donaghy.

Possibly very related or completely unrelated, but Paul Steigerwald (yes, the same guy who likes making bad Hobey Baker plane crash jokes) should really be careful what he says when the referee signals no goal.



"We saved that one." - Paul Steigerwald

Hmmmmmmm!

From being an awful announcer period to his Hobey Baker joke, if it turns out he was in on the cover up and that was not just a coincidental statement, then I think it might be time Steigerwald gets the old heave-ho out of the booth.

Update: We have a suspension! Thus far the only suspension is that of Lowell McDonald, Jr., a (most likely former) member of the telecast staff and son of former Pittsburgh Penguin Lowell McDonald. No more have been announced yet.

Both FSN Pittsburgh and the Penguins have released a statement.

FSN Pittsburgh: "There is nothing more important than the integrity of the game. During last Thursday's game against the Philadelphia Flyers, a definitive replay of a Flyers goal was not aired prior to the conclusion of the official review and, as a result, a Flyers goal was not awarded. Fortunately, this did not change the outcome of the game. Nonetheless, FSN Pittsburgh's failure to provide video to the league officials in a timely fashion was wholly unacceptable. FSN Pittsburgh has addressed this matter and has taken steps to ensure that such a failure does not occur again."

The Pittsburgh Penguins organization: "We fully support FSN Pittsburgh in its reaction to this issue. The integrity of the game is paramount."

If there are any other announcements on this matter, I will be sure to pass them down to you.

When A Local FSN Affiliate Actually Tries To Help Their Team

This may be one of the most incredible things that I have ever seen.

In case you have not seen it yet or heard about it, here is the controversial goal in question scored by Simon Gagne.



Before you blame this one on the NHL for blowing it, they are not totally to blame for it. Au contraire, the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of FSN Pitt for not giving the NHL the proper angles they needed. In other words, that last angle, that clearly showed the puck in the net, was never seen by the NHL! Why didn't they see it? Because FSN Pitt never sent it to them! From the Philadelphia Inquirer's Sam Carchidi

An NHL executive said last night that replay officials in Toronto were not given the proper replays by Fox Sports in Pittsburgh on Thursday, when they ruled that Simon Gagne's goal did not count against the host Penguins.

Gagne swatted a second-period rebound that Penguins goalie Brent Johnson smothered and appeared to carry into the net. It was not ruled a goal on the ice, and when replay officials in Toronto viewed the replays, they said the evidence was "inconclusive" and did not count the goal.

A few minutes after the ruling, another replay was shown in the press box, showing the puck past the goal line.

Fox did not send that replay to Toronto officials until after the puck was dropped following the ruling.

"At that point, the ruling was permanent," said John Dellapina, an NHL executive.

The Flyers' telecast was using the Pittsburgh video feed and did not have any video to send to Toronto.

Somone should be fined or suspended over that.

Luckily for that somebody, the Flyers won that game easily, 7-4, and the controversy is moot as far as affecting the game goes, but it does call into question the integrity of some network affiliates as surely it can't be a coincidence that the only replay that clearly showed it was a goal was the only replay that the NHL never saw?

Paul Steigerwald Likes Joking About Fatal Plane Crashes!

Pittsburgh Penguins play by play announcer Paul Steigerwald has quite the sick sense of humor.

For those that don't know (which before I got into the research behind this, included myself "The Hobey Baker Award is given annually to the top male NCAA hockey player. Its namesake, Hobey Baker, was a star athlete between 1911-1914 before enlisting in the U.S. Air Force, where he was a pilot during World War I. Tragically, he died in a postwar plane crash in Toul, France in 1918, at age 26." (thanks to Puck Daddy for summing up something I would have spent 3 paragraphs on). What makes that so important? Well, a former Hobey Baker award winner, Mike Mottau, got checked and checked hard in the Pens-Devils game last night, so much so that it was FSN Pitt's "Subway Sandwich of the Game". Well, as going through those highlights, Paul Steigerwald made a very unfortunate joke that I'm sure he will soon be apologizing for.



Pens Analyst Bob Errey: "The Hobey Baker winner went down, real hard. Our Subway sandwich of the game."
Pens PbP Paul Steigerwald: ""Not as hard as Hobey Baker went down, though. He went down in a plane crash."

Not funny. And to top it all off there was muttering and giggling and really a sense of uncomfortableness afterwards. And despite the comment of how "it's nothing to laugh about how [Hobey Baker] left us", they carried on for quite some time, maybe if for no other reason, out of uneasiness.

And as if this story needed another kicker, coincidentally, it was 91 years to the day yesterday that Hobey Baker did die in that plane crash. In other words, Steigerwald made that joke on the 91st anniversary of Hobey Baker's death. Oy ve.

While unlike some people around these parts, I am not in the business of calling for someone's job over one ill-timed, bad, unfortunate, joke (see: Griese, Bob), nor do I think he deserves to be fired over this, however, I do think we should expect and have a right to hear an upcoming on-air apology from Paul Steigerwald for this unfortunate incident.

You Stay Classy, Paul Steigerwald (Puck The Media)

The Pittsburgh Penguins Win The Stanley Cup In A Finish Eerily Opposite To Last Year's (UPDATED FINALLY WITH HUGHSON'S CBC CALL)

OMG.......I love AA. I guess the YouTube problem is either the search engine or my internet for some bizarre reason (see below posts for explanation as I doubt not too many people are reading FARN! at 1 and 2 in the morning). Regardless, Friday afternoon I posted a Great Moments in Sports which highlighted moments from this year's playoffs I put up a clip of the final cup clinching seconds for the Red Wings. Watch that again. And now, watch the video below of the Pens winning it this year. Reverse deja vu....HELLO!



Just incredible and for the 2nd year in a row, my heart leapt out of my throat as I watched the final seconds of the Stanley Cup finals. Good grief, what if that last shot went in??? And I spoke of the lucky burrito from Qdoba in Pittsburgh that Dan Bylsma was 22-1 before when he ate a burrito from there before the game. Somehow, he found a way to eat the burrito yesterday before traveling to Detroit for the game. THE LUCKY BURRITO HAS WON THE STANLEY CUP FOR THE PENGUINS! Regardless, the Pens are the 2009 Stanley Cup champions and I'm in hell because of it. At least the Mets gave me some salvation for the night (see below post).

Once the YouTube search engine is working again, I'll search for Hughson's call on CBC and add it as an update to this post.

Update: FINALLY!!! I've literally spent hours searching for this and I have finally found it. Take it away, Jim Hughson! (don't be intimidated by the length, the end of the game is the first part of the video; the rest is the afterward celebration).



And for those so inclined, here is what the Penguins winning the Stanley Cup sounded like in French on the French-Canadian channel, RDS (complete with screaming Penguins fans in the background!)



Encore, felicitations aux Pingouins de Pittsburgh, Pennsylvanie. Mais je toujours deteste Sidney Crosby! ;-)

Championship Parades Never Fail To Amuse Me

Why on earth a football and a beach ball were getting tossed around during a parade for a hockey team I have no idea, but it certainly produced hilarious results. Watch as some dude's camera needlessly follows a beach ball and then an unsuspecting cop gets hit with a football from the sky.



HELLO! And it's good to see that he appeared to have a smile on his after getting decked. Good times, Pittsburgh, goooood times.

NHL Playoffs Day 44 Live Blog (Finals Game 7)

The time is now! One game to determine will determine who will be the champions of the NHL? Can the Red Wings do it yet again or will Crosby get his name etched on Lord Stanley's Cup for the first time? And just because it's been a habit, tonight's game.....

Game 7: Pittsburgh @ Detroit 8:00 (NBC - Mike Emrick and Ed Olczyk, ItG: Pierre McGuire) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, SR: Elliotte Friedman and Scott Oake) (RDS)

Enjoy the game and leave comments in the blog below! And if you're Nathan or one of the many aliases, I know all about you and Big Dick Johnson last year, don't come on unless you want to be ridiculed until I see it fit to ban you. And that ridiculing will include me whipping out the video that nobody wants to see! Enough of threatening Nathan though, IT'S TIME FOR GAME 7!!!

Gary Bettman PWNS Us Again......Sort Of.

The night could have and should have been much better and I'm sure they would have been without the NBA interfering, but that being said, Tuesday night was the best night for hockey this season and for hockey, the numbers that NBC drew were staggering. From Puck the Media

Thanks to the Programming Insider, we now know that the NHL drew 5.45 Million Viewers and a 2.2 among Adults 18-49. That was #3 in total viewers and #2 for the night in the demo. The game peaked with a monster (for hockey) 6.96 Million Viewers and a 2.8/8 in the demo at 10PM. It was at it’s weakest in the 8PM half-hour with 4.53 Million Viewers and a 1.8 in the demo.

Overall, this probably shouldn’t ever happen again, and we hope NBC and the NHL have learned their lesson. But hockey fans should be proud that they stood up for their sport (or sat down on a couch for it) and drove the NHL to it’s highest ratings of the season.

Not bad......not bad at all. And this also does not take into account the people such as Mookie and RJBO and I'm sure many others who receive CBC and watch that broadcast instead of the NBC one. So all in all, while the numbers certainly do not compare with what the NBA drew which drew an 8.7/14, for hockey those numbers that they drew should be damn good and hockey fans (and maybe even Gary Bettman and NBC) should be proud of they accomplished.

And seeing as this will likely be the last post until the live blog tonight, I would just like to remind you that there will be a live blog tonight of Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Come ready and don't forget to bring the funny!

WE'VE GOT A GAME 7!!!!!!!

I hope you were able to join us for the live blog, or at the very least, you saw the dramatic endings to the games today, especially the thriller in Pittsburgh tonight. To quote Gary Thorne, "WE'VE GOT A GAME 7!!!!!". Here is a nice highlight package put together by a Pens fan that covers the game's high points including all parts of the massively thrilling finish. And I'd just like to apologize in advance for the only mediocre quality of the video and even more so for the Pens fan who filmed this off his TV who screamed at the Pens goals and did some hilariously panicking at the end...



Props to Fleury for a great all-round performance in what was an obvious must win for Pittsburgh. Just a great game and I am officially pumped for Game 7! Do join me for the live blog on Friday where we will crown a Stanley Cup champion come Hell or high water or even triple overtime! Triple overtime in a Game 7.....how awesome would that be....

NHL Playoffs Day 43 And NBA Playoffs Day 41 Live Blog (Where Gary Bettman is Sitting At Home Getting Drunk And Wearing A Crosby Jersey)

Tonight's games......

Game 6: Detroit @ Pittsburgh 8:00 (NBC - Mike Emrick and Ed Olczyk, ItG: Pierre McGuire) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, SR: Elliotte Friedman and Scott Oake) (RDS)

Game 3: Los Angeles @ Orlando 9:00 (ABC - Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy, SR: Doris Burke)

Enjoy the game and leave comments in the blog below. That is unless you're a troll named Nathan and/or a sports reporter from Pittsburgh and/or Orlando and/or you're Tyler and/or Tom and/or one of his other 4,390,901 aliases Nathan Brice employs to try to shut down blogs.

Penguins Fans Do Not Appreciate A Red Wings Limo In Pittsburgh

Even though their football team is the laughing stock of the world, the Detroit Red Wings are the closest thing to a modern day NHL dynasty. With that being said, the Red Wings fans and media decided it would be great fun to drive a Detroit Red Wings decorated limosuine into Pittsburgh as we get set for Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals tonight! What could possibly go wrong here? People everywhere are going to be loving it, right? Watch as hilarity ensues.



Besides the fact that that is the most awkwardly edited sports piece I have ever seen, that's just downright funny! I was waiting for someone to chuck eggs at the limo and/or completely destroy it. That would have made this the best video ever. But they didn't, instead they just used every curse word imagineable to curse them out. Good times in the Steal City right about now.....gooooooooood times!

Oh, and yes, I will have a live blog up of both of tonight's games. Hockey with a potential cup-raising at 8, basketball and a must win game for the Magic tonight at 9, it should be great fun!

(Hat tip to kt1000 for sending me this video)

NHL Playoffs Day 42 Live Blog (Finals Game 5)

Tonight's game....

Game 5: Pittsburgh @ Detroit 8:00 (NBC - Mike Emrick and Ed Olczyk, ItG: Pierre McGuire) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, SR: Elliotte Friedman and Scott Oake) (RDS)

Enjoy the game and the blog down below and if you are not a troll named Nathan using some weird and random alias, feel free to leave comments!

Just a bit of a heads-up: I might be a little bit late to the blog today. Just be patient with me, I'll be here ASAP.

NHL Playoffs Day 41 (Finals Game 4) And NBA Playoffs Day 39 (Finals Game 1) Live Blog

Thanks to the Idicoy That Is Gary Bettman, we have The Great Confliction! So join me as I go back and forth and back and forth between games, trying to cover all of the action for you. It should be a great time!

Tonight's games....

Game 4: Detroit @ Pittsburgh 8:00 (Versus - Mike Emrick and Ed Olczyk, SR: Bob Harwood and Christine Simpson) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, SR: Elliotte Friedman and Scott Oake) (RDS)

Game 1: Orlando @ Los Angeles 9:00 (ABC - Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy, SR: Doris Burke)

Enjoy the game and the blog and leave comments! Oh, and if you're a troll named Nathan Brice operating under some weird analyst, don't even bother showing up!

NHL Playoffs Day 40 Live Blog (Finals Game 3)

Tonight's game.....

Detroit @ Pittsburgh 8:00 (Versus - Mike Emrick and Ed Olczyk, SR: Bob Harwood and Christine Simpson)) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, SR: Elliotte Friedman and Scott Oake) (RDS)

Enjoy the game and as long as you're not a troll, feel free to leave comments in the blog down below!