NHL Playoffs - The Final Round

[Ninot]

I figured out who I want to win now.

Carolina

So They can have as many cups as the Flamers

[notyoueither]

I'd be picking that team to win more than one, just not this year.

[Asher]

Originally posted by notyoueither
Why don't the refs haul the Cup out and hand it to Carolina?

Oh, give me a break. The reffing has been evenhanded all series except for the no-goal they ruled a goal to give the game to Edmonton...

Stop it with your persecution complex. Edmonton is sucking and giving the puck away (in periods 1 and 2) and taking dumb penalties that are penalties.

[Asher]

Exhibit A on stupid penalties: Staois in OT.

[Asher]

Oh my!

[Guynemer]

YEAH!

[notyoueither]

GAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLLL!

FERNNNNNNNNAAAAAANNNNNNNNNDDDOOOOOOOOOO!

[Asher]

Now Edmonton gets to lose at home. In a way it's more fun that way.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by cinch
Too many penalties! For both teams.

Greene is an idiot, yes. Bergeron should be in.

He's gotta be hurt.

[cinch]

Wow. Stayin' alive.

Bring on Saturday!

[notyoueither]

Apparently the ice guy in Carolina who lives in a trailor said that Smyth must have needed lunch money when he dug the coin out of the ice.

[notyoueither]

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Playoffs/Carolina/2006/06/17/1638261-sun.html

Magazine prints Canes Cup cover

By ROBIN BROWNLEE -- Edmonton Sun

The Carolina Hurricanes will hoist the Stanley Cup even if the Edmonton Oilers win tonight, prevail in Game 7 and, ultimately, sip champagne from hockey's Holy Grail.

At least that'll be the cover story on 60,000 copies of the Beckett Hockey magazine, which will hit the newsstands next week proclaiming " 'Canes Capture The Cup!' after the publication went to press with Carolina leading the best-of-seven final 2-0.

Issue No. 184 is destined to become quite a collectors item if the Oilers, who had copies of the magazine cover circulating in the dressing room at Rexall Place yesterday morning, manage to come back from a 3-2 series deficit to claim the silverware. D-oh!

"It gives us fuel," said Georges Laraque. "It was on the board. We made sure everybody saw it. Once again, it's people who count this team dead, finished and eliminated.

"It's showing no faith in us. There's so much pride in this room. There are no quitters in this room. It doesn't bring us down. We already have a lot of motivation. It's just a bit more."

Beckett Media sent out a news release yesterday explaining the decision of editor Al Muir to commit to a Carolina Cup win, but says the issue, which features Cam Ward and Eric Staal, will hit the stands regardless of who hoists the Stanley Cup.

Muir's deadline to make the call on the cover fell the day after Carolina spanked the Oilers 5-0. Rather than go with something ambiguous, Muir jumped in with both feet.

MADE FINAL CALL

"That's exactly what it came down to," Muir said from his office in Dallas yesterday. "It was the morning after Game 2 and I had to make the final call.

"At that point, things were certainly rolling in Carolina's direction. They had everything going for them.

"They'd blown out the Oilers. Jussi Markkanen didn't look like he'd be much of a solution in net. It had the makings of a short series. The decision was made we'd go ahead, knowing full well the magazine wouldn't come out until after any possible seventh game."

Muir says he's not surprised the cover raised some eyebrows in the Oilers dressing room. It hasn't gone over all that well with Carolina fans, either, says Muir.

"It was a calculated risk," Muir said. "At that point in time, it didn't look too risky.

"The funny thing is, I'm getting calls from Carolina and they're all worried that I'm screwing with their karma. People in Edmonton are hoping that the Beckett curse is still in force."

As bulletin board material goes, the Beckett cover might prove to be as wrong as anything ever posted in Stanley Cup history. In terms of being inflammatory, it's not like having an opposing player run his mouth in the newspaper.

"You can use it for motivation all you want, but we don't need any extra motivation," shrugged Shawn Horcoff.

"We realize that if we get back-to-back wins, we win the Stanley Cup. That's motivation enough.

"At this point, you can't get any more motivated. We know what we have ahead of us . . . there's not much that can be said that's going to get us any more excited than we are now."

Most Oiler players saw the magazine cover yesterday. Reaction, at least for public consumption, was muted.

"We can't focus on something like that. If we need that to motivate us, we've got some problems," Todd Harvey said.

CUP THE BIGGEST MOTIVATOR

"We don't play to prove people wrong," said Michael Peca. "We play to win a championship for ourselves."

The way Laraque sees it, the cover just adds to a motivational level that's already off the scale in a dressing room full of players who won't need a written invitation to come ready to play tonight.

"Nothing motivates you more than the Cup," Laraque said.

"That's the ultimate dream from the time you're a kid growing up. On top of that, you get side stuff like this. It's more fuel, that's all."

[OzzyKP]

Hockey is still going?

[notyoueither]

Classic. I have to figure out how to get a copy.

[joncha]

After tonight it will even be true.