UMFan83

I'm sure plenty of "warm weather" teams that advanced to the Super Bowl took advantage of the nice SB conditions. It would be nice to see a team like the Bears grind out a NFC Championship and get rewarded with a Super Bowl in 20 degree temps and snow showers.

Yeah I heard that on the radio. I'd definitely consider attending on a potential clinch night, as long as they sell beer :)

I don't think the Sharks outplayed the Hawks by a "pretty good margin" in game 1. I would say it was a slight advantage to the Sharks, but even that is because of a 5-0 disparity in penalties. According to the CORSI ratings, the Blackhawks actually outplayed the Sharks by a good amount at even strength, but I don't think we should rely on that statistic alone to tell the whole story. (CORSI is really just +/- rating but with shots taken (not SOG) when a player is on ice. Seems simplistic, but apparently it's a good tool for analyzing who was controling the flow of the game). Back to my argument, there were definitely big chunks where the Sharks had taken over play, were putting a flurry of shots on Niemi and winning puck battles. But there were also sizable moments when the Hawks were doing that as well, just slightly more for SJ.

Statistically I think he was more valuable in 2007.

Wow that was an awful beginning to "take me out to the ballgame". Lee Smith looked like he had no idea what to do so he started mumbling and looking over at Len.

Same reason game threads on NSBB are only 3 pages, when they used to be 30 pages every game back in the day. The interest in the team is dipping a bit. But also, that 93% number will spike after Memorial Day. The Cubs basically sell out every home game between Memorial Day and Labor Day in February.

Yeah I don't mind it being in a cold weather city, as long as it's not every year. I wonder if this is a one time thing or if it opens the door for cities like Chicago, Denver, Washington and Philly to host the SB. My guess is it's a one time very rare thing and I don't expect any of those cities except maybe DC to be hosting one.

I don't think there is a huge difference in the defenses that both teams played. I will say that NJ and Boston are probably the 2 best D teams either team faced, but lets rank all the opponents the 2 teams have faced: New Jersey - 191 GA Boston - 200 GA San Jose - 215 GA Vancouver - 222 GA Montreal - 223 GA Nashville - 225 GA Average GA for Philly teams: 202 GA Average GA for Chicago teams: 221 GA Difference between best and worst (NJ-Nash) 34 GA Now lets look at goals scored: Vancouver - 272 GF San Jose - 264 GF Nashville - 225 GF New Jersey - 222 GF Montreal - 217 GF Boston - 206 GF Average GF for Philly teams: 215 GF Average GF for Chicago teams: 254 GF Difference between best and worst (Van-Bos): 66 GF Average goal differential for Philly teams: +8 Average goal differential for Chicago teams: +33 If you look at just GA, yes the EC opponents of the Flyers allowed less goals. But when you consider that the WC is just a higher scoring conference in general, it makes sense that the EC opponents have a lower GA. Anyways, I don't think you are arguing that the Flyers opponents are better than the Hawks opponents, I just started typing out a response and turned it into a general look at the quality of competition for both sides.

I think we'd still need to go after Ray Allen to really solidify our guards. Maybe Yao Ming would be willing to take the LLE and back up Noah as well. Rose Allen James Bosh Noah Pargo Johnson Turkoglu Gibson Ming

Are you sure you werent watching a replay of the Flyers-Hawks game earlier in the year where Huet gave up the game tying and game winning goals in the last 2 minutes of the game, the last coming with 3 seconds left? If you want to talk about moments where we lost the number 1 seed, that's a good one right there. Good thing it doesnt matter anymore.

Here's something interesting....did you know Christina Aguilera sang the National Anthem before Game 2 of the 92 Finals in Pittsburgh? http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/05/aguileras-anthem-at-1992-stanley-cup-finals.html

Take off your Wings jersey when you post in here please.

I see stuff like Buff's OT goal in game 3 being proof that the Sharks are just a little bit worse than the Hawks. I'm not saying the Hawks are incapable of mental lapses, but Heatley was out of position defensively a lot this series, and it bit him in the butt that time and gave the Hawks the game. You can play what ifs both ways (for example, what if Hossa had knocked in the puck on an open net opportunity in game 3...overtime probably doesn't happen), but the bottom line is the Hawks won because they did the little things better, made less mistakes and caught probably 1-2 more breaks than the Sharks did. I agree that a few things hear and there and it's easily 3-1 Sharks. Of course you can say that about most series that aren't Atlanta-Orlando. The Hawks got swept in the 92 finals, but were only outscored by 5 total goals. The Wings lost to the Sharks in 5 last round but outscored the Sharks for the series. The White Sox swept the Astros in the World Series but only outscored the Astros by 6 (2 one run games, and another that went 14 innings). It really felt like a hard fought series that we somehow swept.

no, fleury is very good. cam ward is good too. not really. those guys reputations seem to be living on their draft status and stanley cup runs. especially fluery marc andre fluery has had only one good season. the rest of his career he's been mediocre to bad. cam ward is a pretty solid goalie now (not great), but he was atrocious during the regular season before his cup run. if we're talking about goalie matchups heading into a final, he was a worse bet than niemi. so i don't get it, are you saying that osgood sucks and niemi is good? because they're pretty similar, both put up very good numbers behind great defenses. your assessment of fleury is laughable. I think in 5 years it could look like a horrible goalie matchup, but including the playoffs he has started 53 NHL games in his career. I think it's way too early to make a determination that he's good or not. But it certainly bodes well that he's playing so well in the playoffs. The defense has a ton to do with it, but it's good to see Niemi hold his own when the Sharks throw 45+ shots at him twice in the series and only allow 3 goals.

Truffle, I definitely recognize that the Flyers are much better than their regular season record indicates. I remember how hyped they were a couple season ago with tons of young talent. They will give the Hawks a tough series. While I am glad to have seen them come out of the East instead of Washington or Pittsburgh, I think the Flyers were probably the 3rd least team I wanted to face coming into the playoffs (yes over NJ).

Fun fact. The Blackhawks finished with 112 points in the regular season. If the Flyers continued getting points for their playoff victories, and they got added to their regular season total, they'd have 112 points (88+24). That's how far behind in the standings the Flyers were in a weak division. I'm gonna say the Hawks have a somewhat difficult time with Philly as I think they match up decently well, but when all is said and done, the Hawks win in 6. (LWWLWW)

If there is anyone that can slow down Buff, Pronger is your man.

You're not going to post here during the Finals games assuming Philly makes it are you Truffle?

Considering that Baker has a career .896 OPS against lefties, yes.

No idea if that's the case or not, but the single worse thing to me about the steroid era in sports is that any time someone dies way too young, there's always going to be that speculation... Kirby Puckett, Reggie White, Florence Griffith Joyner, etc. Kirby Puckett? The thought of Puckett and juice has never crossed my mind before. Probably because he was not exactly lean as a player, and because he died before that really became something you associated with younger athletes dying.

Without a doubt. But this is our list, and it was fun to go back on all those moments. Because unless you are just a die hard fan of the sport in general, it's hard to really understand what a team has gone through when it's not your team.

There are a ton of moments, as I'm sure you'd agree, on both sides that turned the course of the playoffs for the Hawks. The biggest one, as I'm sure most would identify and agree with was Erat's turnover in the Hawks zone with under 30 seconds left in Game 5, with Nashville up 4-3 and the series tied 2-2. The Preds had a man advantage and they were just passing the puck around in a circle, when Erat made a semi-blind pass, turned it over and the Hawks managed to get one in the net (on another play that if Erat's stick was slightly quicker, he might have gotten it on the puck first and cleared it away for the W). That went from a 3-2 series in favor of Preds looking to close out the Hawks at home in Game 6, to still a 2-2 series and an OT where the best team (provided they kill a 4 minute PP) won. A few other moment's I'd identify as big series shifters: -Niemi giving up that halfassed dump in/shot attempt in Game 1 vs. Nashville after the Hawks were dominating and leading 1-0. That put us in a much harder series against Nashville. -The dump in off Kanes skate for a goal as you pointed out. -In that Game 2 flurry by Vancouver to start the game, they scored 2 goals, but clanged 2 just barely off the goal posts/crossbar and could have easily led 3-0 and 4-0, making a Hawks comeback much more unlikely -Seabrook's goal in that game that cut the deficit to 2-1 and really killed the momentum Vancouver had to start the game. Vancouver very rarely looked that good again in the series. -Patrick Sharp getting that shortie breakaway goal to tie the game up in the 3rd after the Hawks had been getting shut down by Luongo despite firing quite a few shots at him. (note: Game 2 of the Vancouver series in my opinion was the biggest game in the playoffs for the Hawks so far in terms of momentum changing) -Some really idiotic unnecessary penalties by Vancouver in Game 3 and 4 that led to Hawks goals and wins -Niemi basically turning into a shutdown goalie in the middle of the Canucks series and never looking back -Niemi in Games 1 and 3 of the Sharks series; Niemi's save in game 1 that saved a huge goal (I realize I'm moving away from breaks and flukes and am just recognizing things that had a huge impact on getting to the Cup finals) -Versteeg going in the box instead of Bolland at end of game 1 -A shot off Niemi's facemask in Game 3's OT that it didn't look like he saw until it hit him on the facemask -Somehow 3 Sharks missing Buff coming down the center of the ice. Somehow Nabakov not following the puck from behind the net until it was just about in the net -Getting the review and overturning a goal to start game 3. This was underrated...could have changed the series if they got a goal 2 minutes into game 3 and silenced the UC. It was obviously a no goal but since they called goal on the ice, theres always a worry that something crazy would happen. -Getting the review and calling a goal in Game 4 when down 2-0. Same idea as before, except less impact since the series was 3-0. They called no goal on ice, so there's always a worry they would say that they blew the whistle or something and continue play without reviewing. Tons of great great season changing moments in this playoffs for the Chicago Blackhawks.

At least 6 days off? Screw Keith and ladd maybe kim johansson (sp) will be back by then!

Yes this is a Bleacher Report article, but I thought it was worth sharing. This is one guys ranking of the top 50 skaters in the NHL today. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/395684-stars-on-ice-ranking-the-top-50-skaters-in-the-nhl The Blackhawks on his list are: 41. Brent Seabrook 37. Patrick Sharp 18. Patrick Kane 14. Marian Hossa 8. Duncan Keith 3. Jonathan Toews If those rankings seem a little biased, the writer is a Hawks fan. Still interesting to read through though.

Do share.