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NHL Playoffs 2003 - Wide Open

G

Garet Jax

Diamond Member
What on earth has happened? No real surprises in the Eastern Conference. But the Western Conference. 😕

At the start of the playoffs, there were four teams I thought had a good chance of winning everything (Dallas, Detroit, St. Louis and Colorado). They are all gone. It is not like the two remaining teams are bad, but they are not that good either. For the most part, they are similar to the teams they have had in previous years. No major signings in the offseason or at the deadline. On the one hand, I am so happy for Kariya because he has never really had a chance to play on a contending team (I still don't think he is playing on a contending team). On the other hand, three of the four mentioned teams are powerhouses and St. Louis is close. When Colorado, Detroit and St. Louis were ousted in the first round, I thought it was going to be a Dallas/Ottawa final. I am totally dumbfounded. :Q

I guess this is another example of an NHL goalie being the most valuable position in all of sports. Giguere has been masterful all playoffs and Roloson/Fernandez have been better than their opposite numbers (Turco and Roy). Especially in the Vancouver series, I think Cloutier let them down. Minnesota does not have a good enough team to be scoring 3 and 4 goals in a playoff game. Mind you they did against Roy as well. What do I know?😱

In either case, I would be drooling if I was Ottawa or NJ.
 
It really isn't so much the goalies of Minnesota, as it is staying in their game plan. The news out of Minnesota concerning the coach, Lemaire, is that he has never changed the game plan from the opening game in the Colorado series. If you look at some of the games that they have been losing, you'll see them continue to dump the puck in the offensive zone and not step up and put too much pressure on, which is a big reason why when they get down, they have a hard time coming back (save Game 7 last night).

The Wild play a disciplined game and stay in that game. They wait for the other team to make a mistake and attempt to capitalize. The Wild's power play percentage is at 26.3%. That is capitalizing on mistakes. You make a mistake by taking a penalty, and the Wild capitalize.

The Anaheim/Wild series will be a low scoring affair (IMO) and could go to either team. Depends on who makes more mistakes, I believe.
 
well you know alittle bit it looks like. but i wouldnt say that the teams that are there arent very good cause wild and anihiem both put out the best teams. dallas, wings, van, and col. im stunned to. this is a very odd playoffs. i think this series is gonna be a good one but i got my money on the ducks. i think the ducks will take it in that series and im hopping that ottawa will take it. i would like to see a canadian team get there. well thats what im hoping.
 
Yeha in the east I'm rooting for Ottawa. After the horrible off-ice problems they've had, they deserve something like winning it all. In the west...who knows how it's going to end. Anahiem and Minnesota are two very identical teams...it could be a long series with the team that makes the last mistake loosing.
 
Originally posted by: Garet Jax
What on earth has happened? No real surprises in the Eastern Conference. But the Western Conference. 😕

At the start of the playoffs, there were four teams I thought had a good chance of winning everything (Dallas, Detroit, St. Louis and Colorado). They are all gone. It is not like the two remaining teams are bad, but they are not that good either. For the most part, they are similar to the teams they have had in previous years. No major signings in the offseason or at the deadline. On the one hand, I am so happy for Kariya because he has never really had a chance to play on a contending team (I still don't think he is playing on a contending team). On the other hand, three of the four mentioned teams are powerhouses and St. Louis is close. When Colorado, Detroit and St. Louis were ousted in the first round, I thought it was going to be a Dallas/Ottawa final. I am totally dumbfounded. :Q

I guess this is another example of an NHL goalie being the most valuable position in all of sports. Giguere has been masterful all playoffs and Roloson/Fernandez have been better than their opposite numbers (Turco and Roy). Especially in the Vancouver series, I think Cloutier let them down. Minnesota does not have a good enough team to be scoring 3 and 4 goals in a playoff game. Mind you they did against Roy as well. What do I know?😱
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You?re not giving these teams enough credit. How much money players make or the team has or what the players past performance is NOT what determine the best contenders. These teams worked their buts off to get this far, therefore in the process on elimination they ARE better then the "power houses". It?s a shame some of those teams are out of the playoffs, but don?t say they don?t have the talent/skills to be here or go all the way.
 
Originally posted by: SSP


You?re not giving these teams enough credit. How much money players make or the team has or what the players past performance is NOT what determine the best contenders. These teams worked their buts off to get this far, therefore in the process on elimination they ARE better then the "power houses". It?s a shame some of those teams are out of the playoffs, but don?t say they don?t have the talent/skills to be here or go all the way.
Click to expand...

Disagree. If the Canucks had a real goalie they win in 5. The Avs were so spent by their run for ther division, and that combined with their recent histor(5 straight game 7's) was too much to overcome. Sometimes, the best team doesn't win.

 
Originally posted by: jaeger66
Originally posted by: SSP


You?re not giving these teams enough credit. How much money players make or the team has or what the players past performance is NOT what determine the best contenders. These teams worked their buts off to get this far, therefore in the process on elimination they ARE better then the "power houses". It?s a shame some of those teams are out of the playoffs, but don?t say they don?t have the talent/skills to be here or go all the way.
Click to expand...

Disagree. If the Canucks had a real goalie they win in 5. The Avs were so spent by their run for ther division, and that combined with their recent histor(5 straight game 7's) was too much to overcome. Sometimes, the best team doesn't win.
Click to expand...

I agree.
 
Originally posted by: jaeger66
Disagree. If the Canucks had a real goalie they win in 5. The Avs were so spent by their run for ther division, and that combined with their recent histor(5 straight game 7's) was too much to overcome. Sometimes, the best team doesn't win.
Click to expand...

I think Cloutier is a good goalie, but he is not a great goalie. I think Vancouver also needs a couple more good defensemen. Jovanovski(sp?) and Ohlund are not enough.

If they had been ablt to pick up Schneider from LA (instead of letting Detroit get him), then it may have been a different series. Who knows.
 
Disagree. If the Canucks had a real goalie they win in 5. The Avs were so spent by their run for ther division, and that combined with their recent histor(5 straight game 7's) was too much to overcome. Sometimes, the best team doesn't win.
Click to expand...

Is the goalie part of the team? That would mean that if the goalie isn't a playoff goalie, the team is weaker, does it not? In that respect, the best TEAM did win. the team with the better individual players might not have won, but the best TEAM did.

I kept hearing how the Canucks were going to win because they were hungry and they were bigger, and they were faster...too bad they didn't have better goaltending and the defense fell apart.
 
Originally posted by: SSP
You?re not giving these teams enough credit. How much money players make or the team has or what the players past performance is NOT what determine the best contenders. These teams worked their buts off to get this far, therefore in the process on elimination they ARE better then the "power houses". It?s a shame some of those teams are out of the playoffs, but don?t say they don?t have the talent/skills to be here or go all the way.
Click to expand...

Ultimately you're right. It is hard to argue that the team that wins is not the best team. I just don't think they are 🙂
 
Go Ducks!!

Then SoCal will have all the major sports titles except football, can't blame us for that one.
 
IMO it's gonna be New Jersey.

They have the leadership, experience, and goaltending to win the Cup again.

It's been fantastic watching the Ducks and Wild outwork their opponents. Both really play as a team. And of course, the goaltending has been great.

Anyhow, I'm pumped to watch both conference finals matchups 🙂.
 
Originally posted by: jaeger66
Originally posted by: SSP


You?re not giving these teams enough credit. How much money players make or the team has or what the players past performance is NOT what determine the best contenders. These teams worked their buts off to get this far, therefore in the process on elimination they ARE better then the "power houses". It?s a shame some of those teams are out of the playoffs, but don?t say they don?t have the talent/skills to be here or go all the way.
Click to expand...

Disagree. If the Canucks had a real goalie they win in 5. The Avs were so spent by their run for ther division, and that combined with their recent histor(5 straight game 7's) was too much to overcome. Sometimes, the best team doesn't win.
Click to expand...

Disagree. If the Wild played their games the whole series, Vancouver would have only won 1 game. They had to get pentalties in OT to take two of the games that the Wild had "locked". We win, you lose, its done 😛
 
I was very disapointed that Dallas lost to Anaheim. But Minnesota beating Vancouver was great. It's going to be a good series.

The Ottowa and NJ series is going to be good to. I've always like the Devils, so that's who I'm rooting for.
 
Originally posted by: jaeger66
Originally posted by: SSP


You?re not giving these teams enough credit. How much money players make or the team has or what the players past performance is NOT what determine the best contenders. These teams worked their buts off to get this far, therefore in the process on elimination they ARE better then the "power houses". It?s a shame some of those teams are out of the playoffs, but don?t say they don?t have the talent/skills to be here or go all the way.
Click to expand...

Disagree. If the Canucks had a real goalie they win in 5. The Avs were so spent by their run for ther division, and that combined with their recent histor(5 straight game 7's) was too much to overcome. Sometimes, the best team doesn't win.
Click to expand...

Since the goalie IS PART of the team, Vancouver lost as a team. YOu cant just say oh this team woud've made it if they had this forward or this defence men. They lost as a team. No doubt Vancouver, Detroit and the Colorodo had the better players ON PAPER, but if they dont perform well, then its pretty much over. Also, there have been teams who won the cup with an ok golie, like detroit + osgood.
 
I personally want to see Anaheim win it all now, since they were responsible for Detroit's demise.

It is hard to root against either of the Western teams though.

And what I don't want to hear is all of these Canuck / Toronto / etc fans talk about how they want to see Ottawa win it all because they are in Canada.
 
Originally posted by: mpitts
And what I don't want to hear is all of these Canuck / Toronto / etc fans talk about how they want to see Ottawa win it all because they are in Canada.
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I hear ya bro...it gets rather old and tired. My roommate is a huge Ottawa fan from the beginning, so I'll be cheering for Ottawa though.
 
Originally posted by: Garet Jax
Originally posted by: SSP
You?re not giving these teams enough credit. How much money players make or the team has or what the players past performance is NOT what determine the best contenders. These teams worked their buts off to get this far, therefore in the process on elimination they ARE better then the "power houses". It?s a shame some of those teams are out of the playoffs, but don?t say they don?t have the talent/skills to be here or go all the way.
Click to expand...

Ultimately you're right. It is hard to argue that the team that wins is not the best team. I just don't think they are 🙂
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Neither do I, but they had enough to squeeze in. When your best players don't perform as well as they should, you are going to loose sooner or later. Hell, look at what the leafs best players did... absolutely nothing (cept. Moginly).
 
Originally posted by: mpitts
I personally want to see Anaheim win it all now, since they were responsible for Detroit's demise.

It is hard to root against either of the Western teams though.

And what I don't want to hear is all of these Canuck / Toronto / etc fans talk about how they want to see Ottawa win it all because they are in Canada.
Click to expand...

I hope Ottawa win cause I'm Canadian. 😛😀
 
GO WILD!!!!

The run that the Wild are on is amazing, even though it could end with this series against the Ducks. They rarely get rattled and loose focus on their game plan. take into account the outstanding goaltending from both goalies when it counted and 20 guys playing as a team, add it up and it makes for some trouble for whomever they are playing. Just a slight bias towards the home team.🙂

I think the biggest difference between the Wild and Both the Avs and Canucks is that the Wild don't have a superstar that they depend on all the time. In both series they had scoring from a wide variety of players who took it on themselves to make a difference when the opposing team made a mistake. Last night was a perfect example of their tenacity when they got down 2-0, it seemed that the Canucks relaxed to much and before they could counter they where down 3-2. Going straight by the paper the Wild should not have beaten the Avs or Canucks,

The Wild vs Ducks series will be interesting because neither is very big, they both are fast teams and have great goaltending.

The Senators vs Devils is interesting also, will pit a high scoring offense against one of the better goalies around.

Personally I would love to see the Wild vs Senators for the Stanley Cup.
 
Originally posted by: SSP
Originally posted by: mpitts
I personally want to see Anaheim win it all now, since they were responsible for Detroit's demise.

It is hard to root against either of the Western teams though.

And what I don't want to hear is all of these Canuck / Toronto / etc fans talk about how they want to see Ottawa win it all because they are in Canada.
Click to expand...

I hope Ottawa win cause I'm Canadian. 😛😀
Click to expand...


Good for you. It just seems like a lame reason to root for a team. I'd say at least 50% of the players in the NHL are from Canada. Why is it OK to root against them?

Ottawa is basically Team Europe with Hossa, Havlat, Alfredsson, Varada, Bonk, Chara, and Arvedsson.
 
Originally posted by: mpitts
Good for you. It just seems like a lame reason to root for a team. I'd say at least 50% of the players in the NHL are from Canada. Why is it OK to root against them?

Ottawa is basically Team Europe with Hossa, Havlat, Alfredsson, Varada, Bonk, Chara, and Arvedsson.
Click to expand...

The only (unbiased) view i have on this, is that Canadians tend to cheer for Canadian teams because that is where hockey was born, and the teams there keep getting taken away mainly because of the inability to pay the big name players in American currency. I think it is more a pride thing than anything for Canadians (tell me if i am wrong, Canadians).

Look at Ottawa, a team looking to sell the team becaue of possible bankruptcy (or they actually have filed, haven't they?). I can understand the loyalty to any team that resides in Canada, but the bandwagoners get a little old sometimes.
 
Originally posted by: pyonir
Originally posted by: mpitts
Good for you. It just seems like a lame reason to root for a team. I'd say at least 50% of the players in the NHL are from Canada. Why is it OK to root against them?

Ottawa is basically Team Europe with Hossa, Havlat, Alfredsson, Varada, Bonk, Chara, and Arvedsson.
Click to expand...

The only (unbiased) view i have on this, is that Canadians tend to cheer for Canadian teams because that is where hockey was born, and the teams there keep getting taken away mainly because of the inability to pay the big name players in American currency. I think it is more a pride thing than anything for Canadians (tell me if i am wrong, Canadians).

Look at Ottawa, a team looking to sell the team becaue of possible bankruptcy (or they actually have filed, haven't they?). I can understand the loyalty to any team that resides in Canada, but the bandwagoners get a little old sometimes.
Click to expand...


I completely understand that aspect of it. But it still gets a little old when people who otherwise hate a team jump on their bandwagon just because they are in Canada.
 
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