Western Conference Final: Day Two

#1 Vancouver Canucks / #2 San Jose Sharks

Canucks lead seres 2-0 after a 7-3 rout of the Sharks


So if Game Two in the Eastern Conference was all about Tyler 'Bob' Seguin then this Game Two is all about Kevin 'Boom Boom' Bieksa.

He scored one of the prettiest goals this series has had.

Great pass from Chris Higgins.

Then he fought Patrick Marleau.

Seriously, he has never lost a fight. Don't think this has ever happened.

He had a Gordie Howe Hat Trick which as you know, we love. It was a big deal.

And the Sedins showed up to help the Canucks win by four goals. It was a complete disaster if you're a San Jose Shark. They just got completely run over by the Canucks.

Game Three is gonna be an interesting affair.

Eastern Conference Finals: Day Two

#3 Boston Bruins / #5 Tampa Bay Lightning


Series tied 1-1 after an insane 6-5 Bruins win


*Behind the scenes of the Bruins play off run*



I don't think the rookie is ready for the play offs. He's gonna be benched.



*sad Seguin*



Patrice Bergeron is injured!



I think the rookie is ready now.



Oh hai guyz!



Guess what I did in my first NHL play offs game? I scored.


Guess what I did in my second NHL play offs game?

I got two.



Eat it, coach.

Western Conference Final: Day One

#1 Vancouver Canucks / #2 San Jose Sharks


Canucks lead series 1-0 after a 3-2 win


It seems as though the Sharks yet again rely on Antti Niemi too much and make him suffer through multiple stupid penalties and a third period barrage.

Unfair. Chicago wants him back, we heard.

And of course Kevin Bieksa puts his stick where his mouth is...or something like that and scored the game-tying goal.


Henrik Sedin scored the game-winner on a penalty taken by Dany 'can't keep his stick down' Heatley.

Get your shit together San Jose or the Canucks will eat you alive.

Alive, dammit!

Eastern Conference Finals: Day One

#3 Boston Bruins / #5 Tampa Bay Lightning


Tampa leads the series 1-0 after a 5-2 win




The Bruins looked a tiny bit rusty after a week off but no excuses should be made when it comes to the play offs.

Tyler Seguin didn't look out of place at all which was a great relief to the Bruins. He also scored a goal in his first play off game.

Awesome.

But they definitely missed Patrice Bergeron and his defensive skills.

Teddy Purcell scored the game-winner which isn't that surprising considering the post-season that Tampa's fourth line has had.

Sunday's Links

- Sweden and Finland will play for Gold in the World Championships. House divided again.

- And Finland won which was a good surprise.

- Czech Republic won Bronze against Russia in the World Championships. Yay, good for them.

- There are reports that the Winter Classic will be played between the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers in Philly. Should be a good one.

- Mikael Granlund scored an amazing goal in a game against Russia.


- As you should already know, Derek Boogaard was found dead in his apartment on Friday. It is a tragedy and everyone in the hockey world is mourning the loss. His family is donating his brain to medical researchers.

- The New York Islanders signed Michael Grabner to a five-year deal and he Tweeted about it which was cute.

- And the Calgary Flames signed Curtis Glencross to a four year deal worth about 10.2 million dollars.

- Speaking of signing, the Canadiens signed a Swiss defenseman, Raphael Diaz to a one-year, two-way deal.

- Ken Hitchcock is putting his feelers out to get another NHL coaching job. Like we've heard rumors of him going to New Jersey...interesting.

- Matt Barnaby was arrested Friday as well for a domestic incident. Article.

- The Detroit Red Wings will find out if they will have the services of Nick Lidstrom or not by July 1st.

- There is a lot of talk between the Sharks and the Canucks with Kyle Wellwood saying that the Canucks don't have the mental fortitude to play a series and Kevin Bieksa calling him a 'weasel' for talking shit. Love it.

Kissy Faces Everyone

While Blogger was down the past couple of days, we went into a withdraw of sorts. it started with stalking Tumblr and then obsessively going through Twitter and then when we were really desperate we found ourselves on Youtube.

And that never ends well.

What started out as an innocent search for 'cats playing the piano' turned into this obsessive search for hockey players kissing each other. Don't ask. It doesn't make sense to us either.

Well, you lucky readers get to reap the benefits of our insane search. Here are the videos that we found.


First up we have Ziggy Palffy (remember him? holy time-warp, Batman) kissing Travis Green.


Kind of awkward because it's like they hesitate with puckered lips and then just go, "Well fuck, we got this far" so then they do it.


Next we have Esa Tikkanen who does it just to piss off the opposing team.

Not awkward, just awesome.


Then we have the Wojtek Wolski and Paul Stastny blink and you'll miss it kiss on the neck

So weird.


The rabbit hole leads us to this gem - Ryan Malone being a cute jerk and kissing Vincent Lecavalier

It's a little long but the kiss is right in the beginning. It's sweet though and funny to see Vinny blush.


This one was on Versus for all of the hockey world to see but you just can't stop the joy and young love on the Washington Capitals.

Adorable.


An almost kiss, Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson.

So funny when Doughty says, "Should we kiss?"


Our second favorite, Steve Yzerman kiss-bomb.

Yes. And that's one of the many reasons why he's awesome.


And our personal favorite for several reasons.

1. the running commentary from whoever taped it, "that's tongue action!"
2. how adorable and cute it is
3. the interviewer's calm attitude to it
4. Brandon Dubinsky being all nonchalant about it


So if we missed any that you know of, let us know. We did our best in this insane search for kissing.

On Our Soapbox: Hockey And The Media

This edition of 'On Our Soapbox' was submitted by Grace and we couldn't have put this in better words than she did.

-&-

I have a long summer ahead of me and the lovely ladies on this board have allowed me to get on the soapbox. The majority of this post is about the Philadelphia Flyers, yeah "Flyers suck" and Mike Richards "whiner, douche". Since I know many of you are Penguins fans, or just plain hate the Flyers, I ask that you temporarily put that hatred aside to read this with an open mind. If you can't, then just skip down to the bold questions and just read those with your favorite team in mind.

Anyway, here we go:

I'm sure all of you are celebrating the utter collapse by the Flyers. It was big. It was ugly. Now fans across Flyerland are putting on their hats to become the big GM. Trade Richards. Trade Pronger. Fire Laviolette. This stuff is really said.


Anyway, Twitter is usually a safe haven from a lot of this bullshit. But Tuesday (5/10) was one hell of an interesting day. The shit first hit the fan when Tim Panaccio, aka the Russian Mobster (he's not really Russian, and probably not a mobster), wrote this piece:
Article #1

Then, one of the better writers out of Philly posted this as a response:
Article #2

Things simmered down for awhile. Then the Flyers injury report came out with at least 5 players getting off season surgery, including Mike Richards. He tweeted about getting surgery on Wednesday. People started sending best wishes his way, then BOOM, he pulls out the big guns with this tweet directed at our friendly mobster:


(Side note: The purpose of this soapbox is not to analyze Richards tweet, that's done enough in Philly already. But I will say, the tweet strangely shows his moodiness and while it might be unprofessional, I loved it all the same).

It is no secret in Philly that Richards hates the media, and they don't like him so much either.

In round 1 last season, Richards and Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer nearly came to blows. Carchidi had called out the team for their excessive partying and tried to stir up unnecessary drama. What is this? TMZ?

Carchidi and Panaccio share an occasional interest in getting sauced together during out of town games and watching porn in their hotels (yes, in a TMI moment, one of them tweeted about this). Now they share a dislike for Richards.


Following Richard's tweet, all hell broke loose on Twitter. Beat reporters battling it out with bloggers. If you care for a peak, this site screen capped some of the madness:
Article #3

Anyway, it was awesome.


At the heart of the battle seems to be whether someone reporting a story, should also offer an opinion. Does this muddy the waters?

Group question #1: What I want to know, is when a sports reporter throws an opinion in what should be a fact based article, does it sway other peoples opinions on the matter? Specifically, in writing an article that clearly shows dislike for Richards, is the reporter swaying readers to dislike him as well?

With the quick fall of this team through the second half of the season and collapse in the Bruins series, everyone is looking for someone to blame. The Captain is one of the obvious choices, and many fans are demanding that Richards be stripped of the C. Part of their reasoning has to do with his poor relationship with the media.


Group question #2: What is the role of the team Captain? Is it to be media spokesman? Lead the team on the ice and in the locker room? Both? Can you have one without the other?


In general, I'm curious what female fans in other cities think, not about the Flyers, but their team and their role with the media.

That's all for now - thanks for your time.