Tonight’s Senators/Penguins game will feature Cory Conacher in the pressbox instead of on the ice, which is nothing if not surprising. For one, coaches are known to be extremely superstitious, and rarely like to change their lineup after a win. Especially after a win against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Read the rest of this entry »
As I wrote prior to the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs:
This may not be the case for all hockey fans out there, but when I turn on the TV to watch a hockey game, my enjoyment of said game is affected by the uniforms being worn, the way they work together, and how they work with the crowd around them. I can barely watch the Panthers, for example, regardless of opponent.
A couple simple things matter:
* Contrast: for example, Oilers/Flames is going to be better than Senators (white/red/black)/Hurricanes (white/red/black).
And…
* Simplicity: Clean, two-coloured jersey matchups – say Red Wings/Leafs – is going to be better than busy, multi-colour jersey matchups – say Florida/Colorado or something. (Guh, the thought of that.)
We all have our personal preferences – for me, I find red-on-red matchups less pleasurable than cooler colours, and tend to prefer all of the Original 6 jerseys. So we might not agree entirely on the order of the list below, but that’s only because you probably have bad taste and I don’t.
Wow, I was particularly mean that day. Anyway, obviously home/away sweaters make some difference, so take my opinion as an overview of the teams sweaters minus thirds. For the record, this round was extremely hard. Read the rest of this entry »
By now you know the story. The Toronto Maple Leafs surged out to a 4-1 lead against the Bruins in Boston in the third period of Game 7. Their stars had answered the bell in the biggest game of their young careers. Kessel from Kadri, Kadri from Kessel, the scoresheet showed Gardiner, it showed van Riemsdyk.
And then hockey happened. It all came undone.
For fans, a three-goal lead is enough to talk to one another comfortably. It’s enough to laugh, it’s enough to text, it’s enough for most people to get up and go pee and miss a minute of the game. But when the lead was cut to two by Nathan Horton with ten minutes left, it was time to quiet down and pay attention again. Too much time, not enough of a cushion. The stress-factor was reintroduced. Read the rest of this entry »
When the bells rang out in Nassau Coliseum to indicate that it was six-past-Fleury on Tuesday night, a very real question starting surfacing around the hockey world: who in the hell do the Penguins start in Game 5?
We now have our answer:
Bylsma says Tomas Vokoun will start tomorrow.
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) May 8, 2013
So what now? Is this the right call?
I’m well aware that it’s not cool to make contact with an official in any way, but stripped of it’s context – the crazy energy of that game, fights just starting, the contact between them and all – the play looks a lot worse than it is. I’m pretty sure this is the last we’ll hear of this. If not…yikes.
(S/t to @BobbyBows)
This may not be the case for all hockey fans out there, but when I turn on the TV to watch a hockey game, my enjoyment of said game is affected by the uniforms being worn, the way they work together, and how they work with the crowd around them. I can barely watch the Panthers, for example, regardless of opponent.
A couple simple things matter:
* Contrast: for example, Oilers/Flames is going to be better than Senators (white/red/black)/Hurricanes (white/red/black).
And…
* Simplicity: Clean, two-coloured jersey matchups – say Red Wings/Leafs – is going to be better than busy, multi-colour jersey matchups – say Florida/Colorado or something. (Guh, the thought of that.)
We all have our personal preferences – for me, I find red-on-red matchups less pleasurable than cooler colours. So we might not agree entirely on the order of the list below, but that’s only because you probably have bad taste and I don’t.
Without any further ado, here are this year’s eight playoff match-ups, ranked by jersey aesthetics. Obviously it differs depending on which team is home or away, so take the rankings to mean a general take on any combination of the main uniforms: Read the rest of this entry »
I didn’t come across too many people saying it last night, but there were definitely those that were sharing their thought that Eric Gryba should’ve recognized a vulnerable Lars Eller and let up. I’m not exactly sure what “let up” means, but assume it means something along the lines of “sidestep a player and let him start an odd-man rush.” Maybe it means wrap him up with a bear hug and take a penalty. …You can probably guess the stance I’m going to take here. Read the rest of this entry »
Jo Innes, Ryan Lambert, Daniel Wagner, Cam Charron, Ellen Etchingham, Jake Goldsbie, Darren Kritzer
