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I guess we'll see when the final vote is a landslide for Jagr.
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“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
- John 13:34-35 (NRSV) -
~ If Tehben spits eggs at you, jump on them and throw them back. ~ Eventis ~ Eventis Dungeons & Dragons 6th Age Campaign: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4: (Unspeakable) Horror on the Hill ~Comment
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You should read the comments on TSN.ca if you think most people out West think Jagr over Kipper for MVP.
I guess you don't watch CBC, TSN, or Sportsnet when during broadcast games the commentators themselves constantly mention Kipper for MVP. During last Saturday's game, the CBC commentator said "MVP. MVP." simply and repeatedly of Kipper."The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "Comment
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just enough to beat the canadians at their own game in the olympics.What's a boy in Switzerland know?"Everything for the State, nothing against the State, nothing outside the State" - Benito MussoliniComment
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And to say you think philosophy is a useless discipline...In Soviet Russia, Fake borises YOU.Comment
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That doesn't count when Pat Quinn is coach and the best Canadian players were left home, like Phaneuf.Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia
just enough to beat the canadians at their own game in the olympics."The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "Comment
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Kiprusoff for MVPOriginally posted by Asher
Yeah, but we already know how little you know.
Phanuef for rookie of the year
Sutter for coach of the year
Harvey for mascot of the year
~ If Tehben spits eggs at you, jump on them and throw them back. ~ Eventis ~ Eventis Dungeons & Dragons 6th Age Campaign: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4: (Unspeakable) Horror on the Hill ~Comment
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Don't be bitter because your team sucks, joncha.
Who has Hart? Kiprusoff most valuable to his team
Johnson
By George Johnson
Special to ESPN.com
Archive
Others possess a more miserly goals-against average. More wins. A better save percentage.
His GAA has inflated, ever slightly, from the amazing, pre-1967-expansion-like 1.69 posted during the 2003-04 pre-lockout regular season.
Miikka Kiprusoff
Dale MacMillan/Getty Images
Through March 31, Miikka Kiprusoff has a 36-20 record with a 2.18 goals-against average for the Flames.
Yet not only is Miikka Kiprusoff, the mute Finn, the NHL's best goaltender this season, he's got the credentials to back up a Hart Trophy campaign, too.
Homerish jingoism?
By the definition of the award, Kiprusoff among all others deserves the accolade: " … to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team.''
"That's him,'' winger Darren McCarty said. "Our backbone. Championship teams build from the goalie out, and that's what's been done here. Without him … it doesn't work. He's there night after night.''
McCarty then cracks a small smile. "I suppose you've noticed that we, uh, don't score all that many goals. We try to play solid defense in front of Kipper and help him as much as possible, but whenever we need him, he's there to bail us out.''
So, then, Kiprusoff is fully worthy of MVP status?
"C'mon … '' McCarty snorts. "Of course. Are you kidding me?''
The argument has been joined before, of course. Often: best player/most indispensable to his club. The same thing, or subtly different? Maybe there should be an ornate bauble presented for each just to make the call more fair.
Jaromir Jagr's exploits in Manhattan deserve "Producers"-like curtain calls: One of only three Rangers ever to score 50 goals, a franchise record for most points in a season and the incredible feat of having helped pull New York out of a seven-season spin of missing the playoffs altogether.
Joe Thornton's arrival has thrown the sinking San Jose Sharks a postseason lifeline. And rookie Alexander Ovechkin has performed individual miracles in Washington.
Thornton's qualifications likely rest on San Jose cracking the top eight in the Western Conference, while the Caps are so far off the beaten track out East that it seems absurd to imagine Ovechkin winning the Hart, even if he is pretty much a one-man band.
Playing in a mega-media market, on an Original Six team, and inarguably enjoying a superb season, Jagr is a comprehensive, odds-on favorite to sway the Hart Trophy voters.
Kiprusoff, no matter how deserving, remains a rank outsider. And that's a pity.
If he can somehow piggyback the talent-deprived, singles-hitting Flames into first place in the Northwest (often called the toughest division in hockey), Kiprusoff deserves every honor that does comes his way. And in all likelihood, one that won't.
"I don't think about that stuff,'' he argued, smiling blandly, doing his best Marcel Marceau impression. "Maybe after the season. Right now, I'm just trying to help the team win games. It's very close in the West. Every game is so important.''
Kiprusoff's importance to the Flames is, as McCarty said, fundamental. The season captain Jarome Iginla won both the Art Ross and Maurice Richard trophies in 2001-02, for instance, this franchise didn't even qualify for the playoffs.
They had ol' "Large," Roman Turek himself, in net back then.
Kiprusoff is clearly the difference maker.
He'll be hurt no doubt by the unreasonably flattering predictions most voters had of the Flames coming off their magical-mystery-tour run (which Kiprusoff inspired, it must be noted) to the Stanley Cup final two springtimes ago. They'll just see this season as a matter of course.
Most of it, though, is down to one man.
In terms of publicizing his feats of derring-do, Kiprusoff doesn't get nearly what his play warrants. He himself is quiet to the point of requiring subtitles when conducting an interview ("So laid back,'' McCarty said, "that he's almost the anti-goalie"). His coach, Darryl Sutter, who has built this team on a collective mind-set and is therefore loathe to heap praise on any individual, persistently plays down the contributions of his undeniably brilliant goaltender with the icy retort: "That's his job. To stop the puck.''
It is. But he does it better than anyone else in the game today.
He also receives less offensive support than any goalie in the league, meaning he has less room for error than anyone else at the position. The Flames are a bunch of fiercely competitive, Captain Hook-handed overachievers who score goals with only slightly more frequency than the regrettable Columbus Blue Jackets or Chicago Blackhawks. Columbus just happens to be 11 games below .500, the Hawks 16 games, and both are so far out of the playoff picture you couldn't find them with the Hubble telescope.
The Flames, meanwhile, just happen to find themselves pirouetting up in Cirque du Soleil country, high above the crowd, 16 games above .500 and vying with the far more extravagantly talented Colorado Avalanche for the division lead, and the automatic third seeding in the West.
Of their 40 wins this season, Kiprusoff has been in goal for 36 of them. Without him, saddled with lesser goaltending, this is a 12th- or 13th-place team in the West, in spite of its hard-working, all-sacrificing makeup.
With him, it's fighting for a division title and capable of another unlikely playoff journey. If that isn't qualification for serious Hart Trophy attention, what on earth could be?
"There are two or three other guys who deserve consideration, sure,'' McCarty said. "But Kipper's right there. He doesn't need to take a back seat to anyone. Your goaltender is the most important player on any team.''
Kiprusoff should be a lock for the Vezina. But he deserves more. Remember, by the definition of the award: " … to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team.''
Yes, it is difficult to imagine the Rangers without Jagr.
It's impossible to imagine the Flames without Kiprusoff."The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "Comment
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At least I know my team sucks.~ If Tehben spits eggs at you, jump on them and throw them back. ~ Eventis ~ Eventis Dungeons & Dragons 6th Age Campaign: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4: (Unspeakable) Horror on the Hill ~Comment
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I'm looking at the standings and Calgary's record, and I'm wondering why any reasonable person would think they suck."The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "Comment
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If we are speaking of ESPN, on Sportscenter there was a Fact or Fiction, the NHL MVP two names came up, Jagr and Thornton. Kiprusoff wasn't even said.
I wonder what Asher will do if Kipper finishes 3rd in the voting
Playing in a mega-media market, on an Original Six team, and inarguably enjoying a superb season, Jagr is a comprehensive, odds-on favorite to sway the Hart Trophy voters.
Kiprusoff, no matter how deserving, remains a rank outsider. And that's a pity.
Like I said, Jagr will win. Wouldn't be surprised if Western voters put Thornton above Kipper
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
- John 13:34-35 (NRSV)Comment
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Thorton, a player famous in the East, and Jagr, a player famous in the east.
"The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "Comment
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Because in the 2002-03 season, Peter Forsberg was an Eastern player
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
- John 13:34-35 (NRSV)Comment
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It was more cut and dry that year."The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "Comment
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And Thorton won't win because they'll get bumped out in the first round of the playoffs.
Kipper will carry Calgary deeper...
NYR and SJ both will be bumped out fast."The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "Comment
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