WCF - (1) Vancouver Canucks vs (2) San Jose Sharks Series Thread

[SLY]

Congrats Canucks. Sadly, I missed a lot of this series so I can not chime in on the officiating debate. From what I have seen throughout the playoffs is horrible officiating on both ends, I can't say any series had any sort of tilt to it, for every bad call against my team, I've seen a bad call in our favor. I cant imagine it being any different in this series.

Fortunately for the Sharks, you guys did not choke this season away, you did great and made it to the WCF! Where you fell to the # 1 seed. There is no shame in that.

Now for a Canucks/Bruins Final!!!

 

[Automattic]

Congrats Canucks. Sadly, I missed a lot of this series so I can not chime in on the officiating debate. From what I have seen throughout the playoffs is horrible officiating on both ends, I can't say any series had any sort of tilt to it, for every bad call against my team, I've seen a bad call in our favor. I cant imagine it being any different in this series.

Fortunately for the Sharks, you guys did not choke this season away, you did great and made it to the WCF! Where you fell to the # 1 seed. There is no shame in that.

Now for a Canucks/Bruins Final!!!

Bottomline is that the refs have never won the Cup. And just like every other year, they ain't doing it this year.

 

[SLY]

Exactly.

 

[Automattic]

Bottomline is that the refs have never won the Cup. And just like every other year, they ain't doing it this year.

...Before anybody says anything (yeah you, horse), Brett Hull's skate won the Cup, not the refs.:tape2:

 

[dboy97]

Congrats to the Canucks and their fans. See you next week.

 

[thedddd]

Dam power went out right at the end of the 1st OT! Saw the highlights what a fluke goal but it counts. Congrats to the Canucks on winning.

BTW...Was the 2nd OT like the first with refs and all the non calls?

 

[jstewismybastardson]

sharks came to play last night ... if they had that type of urgency in the first 2 games, their season wouldnt be over

I guess Wellwood was wrong, Canucks arent afraid to lose ... Im sure theres a platter of burgers waiting for you at a poolside somewhere Kyle ... go crazy bud!

can anyone imagine what the talk would be if Luongo gave up the goal that Niemi gave up

well done Luongo ... we've all had questions about you ... some more than others ... hell, he even admitted he made a mistake on national tv saying he made a bad read on the 2-1 sharks goal

 

[jstewismybastardson]

ouch

Mason Raymond lost the top half of 2 front teeth on that unpenalized high stick by Wallin in 1st OT. He'll take it 4 trip 2 final.

 

[dash]

ouch

Mason Raymond lost the top half of 2 front teeth on that unpenalized high stick by Wallin in 1st OT. He'll take it 4 trip 2 final.

That was an abomination in OT from the zebras, so many penalties that went uncalled both ways. Makes me wonder if both Walkom and Kozari will get the nod to officiate in the finals (the smart money is on "yes")

 

[dash]

ouch

Mason Raymond lost the top half of 2 front teeth on that unpenalized high stick by Wallin in 1st OT. He'll take it 4 trip 2 final.

Hey Mason, you look like a hockey player now...

 

[jstewismybastardson]

Jason Botchford is slowly taking over from Mike Russo as the Luongo fan club president


With Roberto Luongo, you waited.


You waited for the player who was drafted fourth overall. The one who was a Hart Trophy finalist in 2007. The guy before Chicago, the captaincy, and the contract. You waited for the great version. The one before the groin injury in Pittsburgh and the one before the agonizing run of soft and over-dissected goals.


And you waited.


It didn't happen at the Olympics. Not really, even though he proved there he's got big game. He was fighting the puck, remember. It didn't happen in the first round, or the even second. He was good, not sensational. It was hardly enough to stop the $10 million whispers. He was even benched in the first round, forced to the locker room to watch Game 6 until his backup-turned-starter went down with cramps.


This was your star goalie? Yes, people wondered. They still wondered even though Luongo made the most important save of the playoffs. It came against Chicago in Game 7 in OT on Patrick Sharp. It changed everything but perception.


You waited so long, many around you threw up their hands. They just gave up. You waited so long, him making 54 saves in five periods seemed unlikely, even though he made 56 in Game 5 of the second round against Anaheim. But that was four years ago. And sometimes, it felt like a career ago.


But there it was Tuesday and there he was, looking like the player you thought the Canucks got in a steal of a trade on the eve of the 2006 NHL draft. It was the first time in a long, long time he had been the difference with everything on the line.


In Game 5, the biggest NHL game of his career, Luongo was as good as his contract suggests he should be. He was as good as he's ever been and stakes were nearing their highest. And now he's in the Stanley Cup Finals.


"He was our best player," Ryan Kesler said.


"For him, he elevated his game ... They were throwing everything at him. It was their do or die game."


It started in a dream.


"I dreamt we'd win in triple overtime," Luongo said.


Not quite, but close. It was double overtime when Kevin Bieksa's game winning ground ball squeaked by Antti Niemi. It was Luongo who got the Canucks there.


Luongo wasn't himself. He was so much more.


"I felt great the whole game," he said. "I was in the zone. I was just having fun out there."


He's said that before in the playoffs. This time, you believed him.


You could see it from the start. In the first, he stacked his pads popping across the crease to stone Joe Thornton. You could see it in the end. His best was in the first overtime. He gloved a Kyle Wellwood shot and, yes, kept it in his glove. He deftly followed a re-directed shot which hit Ryane Clowe's skate directly in front of him. He made 16 saves in the first overtime. He made 87 saves in the final two games of the series.


And now, in the playoffs against teams other than Chicago, he is 21-12, with a 1.95 GAA and a .934 save percentage.


Was it the best game he's played as a Canuck?


"(The game) was on a bigger stage. It was the first time we were in this type of opportunity. He played phenomenal," Alain Vigneault said.


There was one blip. And you knew there had to be. It came early in the third. Luongo came charging out of his crease, trying to break up a 2-on-0. Joe Pavelski got the puck, as Luongo wiped out, and found Devin Setoguchi, who placed into an open net.


It was a gutsy play for Luongo. It may even have been the right one. It looked terrible, though.


"People are stupid if they really think that (it was a bad play)," Alex Burrows said. "We want him to play aggressive and (Tuesday) he was unbelievable and stuff like that is going to happen. I hope you don't put it out there that Lou was struggling or that was a bad goal.


"He played unreal tonight and that was the bottom line."


The best game you've ever seen him play?


"He was unbelievable," Burrows said. "He hasn't got a lot of bounces going his way. He's our leader back there. Even last game, he was huge for us.


"Bad goals are going to happen once in a while, but he has been so good."


What about the theory he's not a big game goalie?


"He beat me in the Olympics, so there goes that theory out the window," Kesler said



Read more: Luongo dreamed of OT series win

 

[SLY]

#Canucks 3-0 in playoff games reffed by Walkom and/or Kozari.

tonights refs: Stephen Walkom and Steve Kozari

Watch out, people are going to start crying CONSPIRACY!!!

Dude my facebook is littered with people bitching about the refs... I need to watch this game.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

Dude my facebook is littered with people bitching about the refs... I need to watch this game.

i watched the highlights again and Im positive the game winning goal was scored by a second shooter ... I counted 12 pucks on the ice at one point

 

[SLY]

lol

 

[jstewismybastardson]

#33 Henriks ice time last night: 33:33

 

[mattola]

Im spent. Man still Drunk. Cant believe it yet. Fantastic stuff.

San Jose played very very well last night Luongo was amazing.

4 more wins.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

DownGoesBrown twitter: lol

Globe and Mail reporting a Canadian team is in the Stanely Cup finals. But TSN says the matchup is not officially set yet. WHO DO I BELIEVE?

 

[dash]

DownGoesBrown twitter: lol

Globe and Mail reporting a Canadian team is in the Stanely Cup finals. But TSN says the matchup is not officially set yet. WHO DO I BELIEVE?

rep

/Dreger is waiting for the Board of Governors vote...

 

[BOSSMANPC]

My two cents...

Very emotional series and loss for the Sharks. They played well as a team and this game could have gone either way. I'm not ready to say that a team that lost the series 4-1 should have won or got screwed.

IMO, The Sharks were in trouble when they had five consecutive PP's in the other game and didn't score. You can look back because I said it would "Bite them in the ass" before the game was over.

The ref's and linesmen missed calls? Now there's a shock. It's been happening for years now. Funny thing is it happens both way's.

They missed the icing call but also let everything go when the game went to OT. Many non calls on BOTH teams!

I will not refer to Thornton as a choker again...he played his ass of as did numerous players with injuries.

Bieksa deserves credit for his concentration and watching the puck when it seem's like no one knew where it was. Look at the post here when it was scored and listen to the announcers when it was scored. Kudo's to him.

You do not win a series 4-1 by luck and getting the calls. Hockey is a sport that requires you to over come a bad call here and there, all teams deal with it. The fans should too.

Congrats again to the Canucks and their fans and good luck the rest of the way.

JMO folks.

 

[Tacoma_canuck]

i watched the highlights again and Im positive the game winning goal was scored by a second shooter ... I counted 12 pucks on the ice at one point

LMAO...someone threw an extra puck from the grassy knoll?