Saturday, April 12, 2008

Your Hockey Update

GREAT hockey on my teevee last evening! The night started off with Philly at Washington and ended with Colorado losing to Minnesota in overtime… the second time the Avs and Wild have gone into OT in as many games. The Avs and the Wild played a corker last night, complete with third period heroics and a tying goal by the Avs with just 43.8 seconds left in the game. All that work and heroics on the part of the Avs were for naught, however. Minnesota’s Keith Carney put the game away with a fluky sort of slap-shot (off a skate and into the goal) a minute and 14 seconds into the overtime. And the crowd went bonkers. Minnesota has got some fans…and they are loud!
So. The series is tied 1-1 and moves to Denver for Game Three on Monday. This looks to be a good one.
So much for the nitecap, which was VERY good, but the evening’s first game was the better of the two. The Flyers and Caps began rather slowly (one goal apiece in the first) and it looked like it was pretty much over after the Flyers scored three unanswered goals in a little over three and a half minutes mid-way in the second… but it wasn’t. Not even. The best was yet to come. From ESPN:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Alex Ovechkin was bumped around, boxed in and, well, pretty much Broad Street Bullied for most of his NHL playoff debut.
And then, with the outcome hanging in the balance, Alex the Great emerged.
Held without a single shot until late, the league's leading scorer stole the puck and netted the tiebreaking goal with 4 ½ minutes remaining, giving the Washington Capitals a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series Friday night.
That's pretty much all Ovechkin got against the Flyers, who led 4-2 heading into the final period, thanks to two goals apiece by Danny Briere and Vaclav Prospal. But Ovechkin got going by helping set up the first of two goals by defenseman Mike Green that lifted Washington into a tie.
Ovechkin’s winner was one of the prettiest goals I’ve seen lately… and was the result of some inspired play and other-worldly skill. I just have to share it:
Oh, and did I mention it was unassisted? But you can see that… if you look closely. AO’s winner last evening added a lot to an already good case for the Hart trophy. And this series looks to be one of the best of the first round…but, as the saying goes: there’s a lot of hockey left to be played.
So. While I was watching the Caps – Flyers last evening I got to thinking… When was the last time I watched the Flyers? I think the last time might have been Game Four of the 1997 Cup Finals, which, as games go, ranks right up there in the Top Five of “The Best Games I’ve Ever Seen.” Here’s a highlight from that game:
Ron Hextall was in goal for the Flyers and McCarty made him look like a doofus, not to mention the hapless defenseman McCarty skated around oh-so-effortlessly. That goal, in addition to being one of the prettiest goals of the modern era, sealed a sweep for the Wings. In Philly. I was watching from a bar in Ra-cha-cha that evening in the company of two good friends, both of whom were also Deetroit expats. The bartender bought us a round when the horn went off at the end of third… the Wings had won the Cup, ending a 42-year drought. My friends and I were absolutely ecstatic, and that might be understating the case by more than just a little bit. That hockey game was very, very close to a religious experience.
So. The long drought was over. And there certainly wasn’t a drought in Rochester that night. It got really, reeeelly drunk out, to say the least. The very least.
Strangely enough, there are few links between this year’s playoffs and the 1997 season. Sergei Fedorov, who was on the Wings’ Cup-winning team in ’97, plays for the Caps this year. And Darren McCarty is back with the Wings for the play-offs this year. McCarty has had a rough couple of years of late, but it looks like he’s turned his life around. Good for him. And the fact he’s back in Hockeytown is good for the Wings, too. I think it’s an omen…a good omen.
And now…Game Two of the Wings – Preds series begins in less than 45 minutes. I love this time of year.

6 comments:

  1. The Frozen Four was pretty good this year. Who woulda thunk it, Notre Dame knocked off the presumptive national champs, Michigan, in OT! And I am NOT a Notre Dame fan, OK. As for the NHL, blue, blanc et rouge. Les Candiens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  2. Ashley sez: Hockey, Hockey, Hockey! ;)

    It's that time of year, Ash. And it's liable to get a LOT worse before it gets better, as far as the blog is concerned. I'll probably lose half of my readership before the play-offs are over, or the Wings exit, whichever comes first. (But Hey! What's three less readers, anyway?)

    Anon sez: The Frozen Four was pretty good this year. Who woulda thunk it, Notre Dame knocked off the presumptive national champs, Michigan, in OT! And I am NOT a Notre Dame fan, OK. As for the NHL, blue, blanc et rouge. Les Candiens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Dang. I missed the Frozen Four final, and I seriously meant to watch it, too, what with ND and UoM being my two favorite college teams.

    As for the Habs, you must be in seventh heaven, Anon. This is their best season in years. And good on 'em... at least until if and when they get to the Final and face My Wings. Then you know where my loyalties will lie... :-)

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  3. You will not lose me as a reader. I like you too much!

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  4. Flyers vs Red Wings in 97...I have rooted for the Flyers since the Broad Street Bully days, before then the Red Wings....after 1997 I stopped rooting for the Wings....just the way it was, the Flyers got their asses handed to em' and I realized I couldn't have 2 brides.
    ;)

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  5. Ashley sez: You will not lose me as a reader. I like you too much!

    Why, thank you, M'Dear!! What a nice thing to say! (I like you, too!) ;-)

    Pat sez: Flyers vs Red Wings in 97...I have rooted for the Flyers since the Broad Street Bully days, before then the Red Wings....after 1997 I stopped rooting for the Wings....just the way it was, the Flyers got their asses handed to em' and I realized I couldn't have 2 brides.
    ;)


    You go back further than I do, Pat. I became a hockey fan in '85 when I moved to Deetroit, which was the first northern tier city I'd ever lived in.

    I didn't see my first hockey game until sometime in '76 or '77, and that game was in Tokyo. The world "B" championships were held there that year, I was casually dating a schoolteacher from Minnesota (or Wisconsin?), she was a serious hockey fan, and she insisted we go. She was incredulous when I told her I'd never been to a hockey game, too. So, we went and I was amazed at the speed and excitement of the game. I date my love affair with hockey back to that time...

    Gotta love them Northern Gals!

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