The NHL Saga Begins

[LA_MERC_Sabre]

The puck dropped Wednesday night to open the 2003-04 NHL season but where will the final puck drop in June? Will it be in Detroit, where the "Dominator" has returned for one last run at Lord Stanley's Cup? Will it be in Denver, where the Av's have one of the most proliffic scoring line-ups assembled since the glory days of Edmonton? Can the overpaid, used up "has-beens", the team that consists of players who should have retired 3 years ago, yes i'm talking about the Rangers, make the playoffs? How about the Devil's, can they add yet another stanley cup ring to their already golden fingers? All these questions linger as the season kicks into full gear....


I'm practicing for my audition to be a sportscaster:p:


oh yah....i really hate to bring up the fact that the LA KINGS lost last night with 1.7 secs remaining....lmao

[Omega_Prime]

hrrmmm what you just said means nothing to me.......... hockey is kinda like golf it sucks!! its not a sport!!! id rather watch the old folks bingo game than a hockey game.

[LA_MERC_Sabre]

Please leave the insults on the FA forums. oh wait...nevermind

[LA_MERC_Dirge]

lol

Hey now I'm not a big hockley fan, but it IS a sport, unlike some of the others. Hockey's problem is the breaks between periods are too dang long. Oh yeah, and anything that can end in a tie is just strange.

[LA_MERC_Yankee]

Not to mention that it seems like their season lasts all year long and the playoffs for the Stanley Cup are never-ending. :D

[LA_MERC_Sabre]

I suggest the hockey bashing stops here------>>>>.<<<<<<------

Shall we bring up Saturday in BR??????? huh huh???

[Omega_Prime]

can i ask what exactly you meant by the whole FA thing? wtf is some of you guys problem... my post in no way had anything to do with FA or your clan it was about hockey! jesus christ i swear to god.

[LA_MERC_Sabre]

me thinks i hit a sore spot.....you can ask if you want to.......but i suggest you tone down since everyone else in this thread is joking around. If you must know the reason i said that..well here it is...you give an insult....i reply, but i don't get offended...but yet you come in here and can't take it in return..get a life or better yet get a sense of humor...you should know by now we are a bunch of sarcastic individuals.

on a side note....i'd like to see you put on a pair of skates...then we'll see if you still think hockey is not a sport. Actually, pick up a stick too, we'll play a little one on one. hehehe
Me thinks you do not want that!

[CoF]

well first and formost i was joking when i said what i said about hockey, second i have a life, third i never said anything about anyones clans or past clans i was talking about a sport that in my mind is not interesting at all. we here in LA dont have any NHL teams and i could almost tell you that 90% of the sports fans around here revolve around football and baseball. regardless i know what i say here doesnt matter so ill just stop talking about it.

[CoF]

o and sorry i posted under dustin name but yea thats me.

[LA_MERC_Cowboy_From_Hell]

Enough guys....Mike you were out of line. To say hockey sucks and its not a sport is just plain rude. I don't insult football even though I get nothing out of the sport. The only sport that requires better physical conditioning is soccer. Let's see you strap knives to your feel and carry a 5ft wood stick, chasing a solid piece of rubber capable of being shot at you in excess of 100mph and tell me it isn't difficult. Did I mention that there will be guys 6'2" 230+ trying to run you over at 20-25mph??

Now on to the actualy topic.....

PFFFT!!!! Yeah they lost with 1.7 secs left. Stupid Yserman. You fail to mention that they won the next 2 games beating the Pens handily and getting 49 SOG. Beat the Hawks too....Kings are looking pretty good considering the 2 top forawards (Deadmarsh and Allison) and 2 top blue liners (Aaron Miller and Mathias Norstrom) on on IR. Lot of young talent on that team. Should be an interesting season. Prediction: Luc gets 20 goals....Kings go to second round.

As for your analysis of the other high profile teams....

Avs: ?? Only time will tell if they are a team and a collection of individuals. No doubt they are one of the best teams ever assembled as far as pure skill.

Wings: Hasek will NEVER be "The Dominator" of old. The glory days in Buffalo are gone. Can he hold it together enough togo to the finals?? If his GAA stays under 2.2 they should do well. Detroit's offense can still be very deadly (see Kings/Wings game for proof).

No team in the East, save Ottawa, has much of a chance to do much this year. Its gonna come down to who can rise above the mediocraty and take the conference. There are 4 powerhouse teams in the West (Colorado, Dallas, Detriot, St. Louis). Right on the door step is Vancouver, Chicago, LA, San Jose. Anahiem was a fluke last year. Look for them to suxor with the aging Fedorov and Kariya gone. Coyotes are kind of a wildcard. If they can generate a lil offense Burke should be able to hold the net. If Burke is happy and plays well, the Coyotes could be a sleeper team.

I'm really excited about the NHL season this year.

[LA_MERC_Cowboy_From_Hell]

I was typing this while you were posting Mike...it didn't come off as a joke but I accept your explaination. Let's just get along please....

Scott

[LA_MERC_Sabre]

lol, yeah didn't seem like a joke to me either...oh well so be it.

back to the important stuff....???????wth are you talking about, the Kings 2nd round!!! ha ha..... Truly no offense meant by this CFH but like you said yourself there are 4 "powerhouses" in the Western Conference, LA not included. If LA were to make it to round 2 they would have upset one of these teams----> Colorado, Detroit, St. Louis, Vancouver....maybe Dallas. I think Vancouver is very under-rated their only question is can their goaltending hold up over a 7-game series. The Kings do have some awesome talent as you stated, but their goalie stinks in clutch situations, he chokes...he's done it several times over the past 3-4 years. Just ask the Flyers' fans.

As for the East, well, not much to say here....Ottawa is definitely the best team and should represent the Eastern Conference in the finals barring serious injury. New Jersey is always in the hunt because of their strong, but aging defense and goalie.

anyway...my predictions......Ottawa vs Detroit....Ottawa brings the cup home! Where it belongs...in Canada. HA!

[LA_MERC_Diesel]

I am Impressed by your level of knowledge in the hocky world, I love to watch the international events, but have never been able to stay interested in NHL, maybe someday.

This is what I would look like :p:

[LA_MERC_Sabre]

LOL

[LA_MERC_LaTech]

I've never seen a hockey game in person, but would like to. All I know about the sport is this: Cake toping can be called a foul of some sort. What kind of sport is that?! LOL!!!

[LA_MERC_Sabre]

WTH IS CAKE TOPING??? stupid caps lock

[LA_MERC_Cowboy_From_Hell]

Icing...you idiot! Damn Canadians....:D

Upset one of the powerhouse teams??? You mean like they did to the Wings in 7 two years ago and took the Avs to 7 in the second round??? Hmm....Didn't the Wings get SHOCKED last year in the first round??? Hmm....it can happen. And I say it will again this year.

I'm telling you with Allison, Deadmarsh, ??? (Belanger/Robitaille) as the top line and Stumpel, Pallfy and Frolov as the second line that's as wicked a 1-2 punch as any team save Colorado. Its all about health though. They lost over 400 man games last year to injuries... second most in the league.

Tech, Icing is when the puck is shot across the center ice redline and crosses the other teams goal line (not into the goal) without being touched by the team who shot it...that makes sense? I guess another way to say it is the controling team shoots it more then half the length of the rink without touching it again. It occurs most often in 2 situations.
1: The defending team is getting presured hard and are in need of a line chnage so they get the puck and shoot it all the way down the ice so they can get a whistle and change up. The bad part is the face is still in their defending zone.

2: Is on a center ice dump in. The attacking team shoots the puck into the attacking zone and tries to beat the defending team to the puck. Sometimes becasue of over-zealousness or pressure from the defending team, the puck carrier shoots the puck in before reaching the center ice redline. If the defending team reaches the puck first, it's icing.

OK...I'm getting way too deep into specifics. If you REALLY want a lesson I can go into it but it makes alot more sense on a chalkboard then in text.

Scott

[LA_MERC_Sabre]

omg, i can't believe i didn't catch that one....stupid brain!!!

CFH.....you left one thing out of your warped, twisted, blind folded little dream...you still have a goalie who can't get it done! lol

seriously though, i think the Kings have a good team, but they really have to be careful in handling Romans' head problems. As soon as he gets owned (especially in playoffs) he will get down on himself just like in Philly. Same goes for the Av's no proven goaltending, which is why they won't be in the finals.

[LA_MERC_Cowboy_From_Hell]

Strong goaltending is uber important if you cant score goals. So far that hasn't been a problem. Huet pitched a shutout (yes, I know he faced 11 shots). I have faith in Cechmanek till he proves to me...IN LA...otherwise. AS of now, the Kings hold the top spots in...

Goals (Klatt 3)
+/- (Holland +4)
Points (Klatt 4)...Pallfy also has 4 points.
Team goals (tied with Wash 9)

Remember, they are missing 2 of thier top 3 scores. That's impressive. I don't care if the final is 8 to 7 as long as its a victory. I will concede they need to unscrew the PP...very sucky right now.

Scott