Awards show...

So the awards show was pretty much as I and a lot of other people expected...a lame bit of fluff as always. I only got through about half of it before I shut it off. The presenters, for the most part, were horrible and not funny at all (I'm looking at you Jay Mohr). Here's an idea: get REAL celebrity hockey fans (Denis Leary, Kevin Smith, Vince Vaughn), and some women who know at least SOMETHING about the game to present the awards. I think it would be fun to have a contest for the fans where the winner gets to present an award (and not the Lady Byng...I'm talkin a real award here). The only good part about the ceremony was the skit with Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan.



Funny shit right there.

In other news, the Hawks have begun their Stanley Cup winning liquidation. Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Sopel, and Ben Eager are the first casualties, being traded to Atlanta for Marty Reasoner, prospect Jeremy Morin, the New Jersey Devils' first-round pick (No. 24 overall) and the Devils' second-round pick (No. 54 overall). Honestly, I think this was a win-win situation for both teams. The Hawks got a lot from the deal without having to dole out a lot of money, and have a little bit of wiggle room in the salary cap now. Atlanta got some solid, proven players, and everyone knows they could use it. What's left to be seen is if the Thrashers will trade their new acquisitions for a bag of pucks and a jock strap. Have a good one, and try to stay cool...it's been hot as hell here.

Stanley Cup Finals, Game 5

I would have posted this earlier, but Blogger was having some issues for most of the day. Here's things as I saw them:

1. What was going on with that awkward pregame? I was hoping that Pierre would get snowed by JR or Milbury.

2. Quenneville continued switching the lines around like he did in Game 4, and came up with some great results. Changing things up a bit gave the Hawks their energy back and jump-started the star players.

3. Speak of being jump-started, welcome back to the playoffs Dustin Byfuglien! He was creating some great scoring chances as well as taking down any of the pylons he could find. I could watch highlights of the hit he put on Pronger every day for the rest of my life.

4. Chicago, with the exception of a few short moments of the game, completely dominated Philly. The Flyers' defense looked abysmal. I think Pronger went and kicked some puppies after the game to try to make himself feel better. That was by far one of the worst games I've ever seen him play. I love how the Hawks were able to put him off his game by using some of the same tactics that he himself had used earlier in the series. They really seemed to be getting under his skin.

5. Dave Bolland, Patrick Sharp, and Dustin Byfuglien all played amazing this game. Hopefully they can keep it up next game.

6. Philly has their whole team to blame for this loss. It wasn't just Leighton, it was everybody.

7. Niemi made some key saves after completely fucking up on Philly's first goal. Even if you think you have the puck, you should at least take a very quick look to make sure.

8. Why couldn't the 2nd Philly goal have gone in off of Hartnell's face?

9. Speak of Hartnell, what the hell did he think he was doing when he almost took Kopecky's head off with his elbow? Then again, it's Hartnell, I don't think he's capable of thinking about anything.

10. Some people will look at the penalty that Seabrook took for closing his hand on the puck and think it was a stupid move. It was really the only thing he could do in that situation. He kept the puck out of the net, but wasn't in a good position to just drop it in front of himself.

11. I will never understand why linesmen don't have jurisdiction to call penalties if the blind frickin refs don't see them. They should have been looking right at Campbell when he was high-sticked. Incredible that they missed that one. Stevie Wonder could have made that call.

12. And of course during the 2nd intermission we get to hear JR and Milbury talk about how someone needs to get in a fight.

13. The Hawks need to keep up their physicality on Pronger, not just because it's fun to watch (and it really, really is), but it seems to be very effective.

14. Briere's cut was stitched surprisingly fast. It's like Philly has a surgical pit crew.

Everyone rest up and enjoy the off day tomorrow. Game 6 is going to be huge. Hopefully Ohio is done getting destroyed by storms. I'm getting kind of sick of the rain.

Stanley Cup Finals, Game 1

Philly 5, Hawks 6

This was one of the most fun games I've seen for a while. I finally got to watch a game live instead of having to DVR it, which was pretty awesome. Anyway, key points of the game...Go Hawks!

1. How entertaining was this game? Physical play, neither team with more than a one goal lead, and both teams being very offensive-minded. Both teams came out strong, and I must admit that Philly played a lot better than I thought they would.

2. Chicago needs some discipline. You know it's bad when Philly was the more disciplined team. There were, however, some calls that were missed (the high stick on Seabrook) or just generally fucked up (sending Campbell to the box instead of Hjalmarsson) by the officials.

3. Was NBC glitchy for the first period for anyone else, or was it just my shitty Time Warner cable acting up again?

4. I think that both teams were a little sloppy defensively, which is part of the reason why this was such a high-scoring game.

5. I liked Chicago's penalty killing unit in this game. They weren't afraid to get aggressive.

6. How great was Brouwer in this game? He just always seemed to be in the right spot at the right time, and it really paid off.

7. I was a little surprised that Leighton wasn't pulled after the 4th Chicago goal. I think Philly could have used a little more motivation at that moment in the game.

8. Mike Milbury doesn't like "touchy-feely" stuff, but Pierre McGuire does...there's a huge shock. Beat Pierre with his own shoe, Mike.



9. Both teams showed the type of scoring depth that gets teams to the finals. Philly had 5 different goal scorers, while Chicago had 5 as well.

10. Even though Byfuglien didn't record a point in this game, he made his presence known with his physicality. He was, however, a minus 3 for the night.

So there ya have it. Have a nice Memorial Day weekend kids, and I'll be seeing you for Game 2. Have a burger or hot dog for me, I have to work.