Category: Hockey

That was the collective cry of anguish as tens of thousands of Oiler fans back home and hundreds of thousands of Canadians watched Carolina win the final 3-1 to take the Cup and the glory. It was a heartbreaking loss and if I had a beer to cry in, I’d be doing it.

It was a well fought match with both teams playing well. Carolina just played a little better. The Oilers just didn’t seem to be skating or handling the puck as well as they did the last two games while Carolina was just the opposite. There was no shortage of scoring opportunities for Edmonton, but Carolina’s Ward was at the top of his game and kept most of them out. Very few penalties too, which is fairly typical of a high stakes game like yesterday. Refs tend to lay off the calls except the more obvious and blatant ones and let the players play the game.

sigh. Next year I suppose.

It’s do-or-die tonight for the Oilers and the Hurricanes. Tonight one team will get all the glory while the other team gets…well, nothing.

This year’s NHL playoffs have been pretty exciting, especially with my home team making it all the way to the final for the first time in a long while. I’m still surprised Edmonton’s managed to beat their way back from a 3-1 game deficit to tie up the series, but they fought hard to stave off elimination. The last two games were nailbiting, and that OT period of game 5 was just gut wrenching.

Edmonton’s going to have it rough tonight playing on Carolina’s home ice. I think if they can hold things together and avoid taking too many stupid penalties they’ll be able to bring home a much deserved Cup to their fans. Statistics are against them though. There have only been 13 Stanley Cup finals that have gone to game 7, and the home teams have won 11 of them. The Oilers have some good momentum built up though. I hope they can carry through. I know I’ll be glued to the TV tonight cheering them on.

NHL hockey is back, and now I can watch it on OLN now, instead of hoping for the smattering of games on ESPN. Better play by play commentary too. It’s no Hockey Night in Canada, but it’ll do. Now if only they could show more than two games a week…

This year there are a few new rules that I’m trying to decide if I like. The new shoot-out rule for tie games I think will make things interesting. I’ve always found shootouts to be exciting. Personally I’d like to see the NHL go to the wider rink size used in international hockey. I think the wider rink makes for more interesting play.

Yes! We RULE hockey! Team Canada take gold at the Women’s World Championships. A 2-0 shutout over the US team for their 8th championship title in a row!

From Canada.com:

But the American players were angry over an apparent missed goal by officials during their third power play of that period.

and to this I say “Phbphbphbphbpht”. Ya still lost.

Ok, I suppose that wasn’t very nice of me to gloat like that. I’m sorry.

Well, no, not really. We still won. Heehee 🙂

And coming up later this month, the men’s World Hockey Championship.