Running 2008 NHL Playoffs Thread

Exner was a highly servaceable goalie in the ECHL. I'm surprised he never got a little bit better of a look or a few more years there.

 

Rumor had it that the Avs were interested in hiring St. Patrick to be coach, but he turned them down due to wanting to continue the develop his son, Ron Hextall Jr., as a goaltender.

 

Suffice to say, I shall not watch much if any of the Stanley Cup Final this season ...

 

Kid broke an almost 30-year-old WHL record for single-season GAA set by John Davidson.

But he didn't really have the pro ability to read the play and the puck.

That season, the Kamloops Blazers had a 3-30 philosophy.

Less than three goals against and less than 30 shots against. They did a helluva job and ran up a 26-game undefeated streak.

Was it all Exner? No ... Habscheid demanded a team defence and the blueline featured, IIRC, five NHL draft picks -- four of them first-round, including Robyn Regehr.

And the front-line had a kid named Kyle Calder and several other draft picks who didn't pan out at the NHL level.

It was a helluva team ... that couldn't get past the Calgary Hitmen, dammit ... it was my closest chance at a free trip to a Memorial Cup.

ARRRGH!

 

Great ad.

 

"The URL contained a malformed video ID."

 

Dammit! I'll refind it!

In the meantime ... from Mirtle's blog:

The following officials have been named to work the 2008 Stanley Cup Final. Their career playoff games are also listed (updated through round three).

Referees: Paul Devorski (147); Brad Watson (91); Dan O’Halloran (59); Marc Joannette (52).

Linesmen: Jean Morin (134); Jay Sharrers (113); Shane Heyer (97); Pierre Racicot (83).The big surprise is no Bill McCreary, who had refereed the finals

 

I think this is the video in question.

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/emptynetters/

 

Try this:

 

That is freaking solid.

My only question is, they had a coupe of frames of the Leafs raising the cup . . . They had TV cameras back then? Wow.

But yeah, Awesome add. The NHL is doing much better in promoting itself since the samurai warrior adds they had coming out of the lockout.

 

Molsom kicked their ass with that ad series during and after the lockout.

 

Just a reminder that the Memorial Cup semi-final is on tonight between Kitchener and Belleville.

This should be one great game.

Winner plays Spokane in the Championship Game on Sunday.

This will be the ninth postseason game between these two teams. Winner takes the series in five.

As the Belleville coach said, (Paraphrasing) "We don't have to study tapes on these guys anymore. We know exactly what they're gonna do. There's no coaching. It's all up to the players"

Sportsnet at 7:00