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May 23rd, 2006

And In Edmonton…

Steve Staois has just scored to make it 3-0 Oilers with about 16 minutes to go. So to get back on track, the Ducks send Todd Fedoruk out on the ice to fight Georges Laraque. Big mistake, as Big Georges puts down the Duck with just one punch.

This series is O-V-E-R. And I couldn't even get this post out before Chris Pronger made it 4-0.

And yes, I went on SBL and said Anaheim would win this series in six because Edmonton was too beat up. Oops!

Whoever wins the Buffalo-Carolina series better get things over quick.

UPDATE: O'Donnell and Selanne score to make it 4-2 with a little more than 10 minutes left. I still think this is over. How about Dwayne Roloson for MVP?

ANOTHER UPDATE: Dear God, I need to keep watching and just stop predicting. Chris Kunitz just made it 4-3, with a little more than 8:30 left in the game.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Fernando Pisani makes it 5-3. Now it's over. Maybe.

THEN AGAIN, MAYBE NOT... It's 5-4 now with about a minute left. This may be the most undisciplined period Edmonton has played during the entire postseason.

NOW IT REALLY IS OVER... Wow. The Oilers hold on, and how huge are the two near misses in the third period that Roloson survived: The one puck that trickled through his pads but couldn't find the net; and the other puck that he swept off the line. My heart was in my chest most of the period.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006 at 10:17 pm by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “And In Edmonton…”

  1. Ingmar Bergman says:
    May 24, 2006 at 12:18 pm

    That’s playoff hockey for you isn’t it?

    I just finished watching the game and had the same up’s and downs as you did. Great game.

    And I beg to differ on your opinion on the relevance of The World Championships. ;)

    Ciao

  2. north of 60 says:
    May 24, 2006 at 3:03 pm

    This is what playoff hockeyis like in Edmonton. Absolutely electric and in this case patriotic.
    >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meLpuF9UMvk

  3. Lune says:
    May 24, 2006 at 3:32 pm

    I was going to post that here, too, North60.

    That is just … wow. Even being American, that sends shivers down your spine and practically puts the wrath of Canadian hockey upon you. Completely overwhelming.

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May 1st, 2006

And In Edmonton…

Wow. I mean, wow. What a third period. A couple of thoughts.

1) Red Wings goalie Manny Legace will get blamed, but it was Andreas Lilja's blown coverage on the fourth goal by Ales Hemsky that cost Detroit the game. Speed kills, and Detroit had no answer for Edmonton's speed, especially on the game winning goal. When you're backing up that quickly in your own zone, it can't be a surprise that somebody slipped by unnoticed.

2) Gary Bettman has really bad karma. If you told him that both Detroit and New York would be gone after the first round, he'd have called you nuts. Now he's probably just gnawing on his nails. We're well on our way to Bettman's nightmare scenario: Ottawa vs. Calgary in the Finals.

During the regular season, I read somewhere that fewer than 200 households were watching the NHL on OLN in Los Angeles on game night. If we get Ottawa-Calgary in the finals, OLN will be lucky to get 200 households South of the U.S.-Canada border.

3) Is that really it for Steve Yzerman? I hope not.

4) How in the world can Red Wings GM Ken Holland bring Legace back for another season as the #1 goalie? Hockeytown will hang Holland from the decaying facade of Tiger Stadium if he tries to pull that off.

4) What kind of shameless homerism got loose in the CBC booth tonight? Truth be told, it was fun to see them get caught up in the excitement in Edmonton, so I'll forgive it this time. Unfortunately, if Calgary plays Edmonton in the next round, I'm thinking they'll be awfully confused.

5) How's this for an exciting final: Edmonton-Buffalo. If we got that, I guarantee a linesman is going to tear a quad.

6) If I'm San Jose Sharks head coach Ron Wilson, I'm thinking there isn't a team left in the draw in the West that my guys can't beat. And that includes Calgary. It's all breaking for Ron just like it did in 1998 in Washington. If everything holds up, he'll get home ice against Colorado in the next round.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 1st, 2006 at 10:57 pm by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “And In Edmonton…”

  1. Matt Saler says:
    May 1, 2006 at 11:29 pm

    Actually, Eric, though Lilja didn’t look so hot on that play, Jason Williams blew coverage and allowed Hemsky to go straight to the net after he dished the puck off to Samsonov. Watch the replay and you’ll see #29 filling the screen and floating as Hemsky slam dunks it. That, combined with his boneheaded roughing penalty early in the period makes Jason the goat of the game.

  2. vodkafish says:
    May 1, 2006 at 11:47 pm

    Eric, American announcers are homers. CBC announcers are simply rooting for the “Canadian hometeam”. For some reason this is acceptable up north.

    Don’t get me wrong, I love it. I think it’s fun even when I’m not rooting for the team (it’s why John Davidson is good most of the time despite his rooting bias, he knows his hockey).

    It’s just odd that it’s been ok for the CBC to do during any Canadian vs American-city team (as though those teams are made up of less Canadians). If the core audience doesn’t mind, then hey, whatever’s entertaining, and it was for the most part.

  3. Brandon says:
    May 2, 2006 at 11:39 am

    Detroit’s D corps must have traded D corps with Dallas before the third period.

    The coverage on Hemsky’s game winner was awful to say the least.

  4. Skowron says:
    May 2, 2006 at 6:09 pm

    Wouldja just look at how many names just got crossed off the list? Wow.

  5. Keith says:
    May 2, 2006 at 6:12 pm

    Sorry Matt – Lilja wears the goat horns in this game. First, the blown coverage on Pisani for one of his goals (how was it a three-on-three, and suddenly a half-breakaway?), then the poor coverage on the winner.
    I agree that Williams was out of position, but I would bet he was supposed to be covering the point. You can see that Samsonov could have dropped it back to the Right D-man, who could have then passed over to the Left for a clear shot on net (with Ales in front to screen/tip/rebound because Lilja was no where in sight).
    On a final note – he is by far the best D-man in the NHL, but Lidstrom was on the ice for all 4 goals. That hurts too.

  6. Primis says:
    May 2, 2006 at 10:31 pm

    The goat is Mick McGough and the video replay officials.

    For some reason, everyone is trying to sweep that THIRD Edmonton goal call under the rug. The one that was knocked down with a high stick and then kicked into the net? The one they reviewed and somehow STILL allowed? Rememebr that one (if you watched the game)?

    If that goal isn’t allowed, there’s no 4th EDM goal and we’re discussing Game 7 back in Detroit instead. It’s at that point the series turned from a poorly-officiated series all around into just a simple screwjob, I’m sorry.

    And for everyone bashing DET’s 3rd period D… Chelios was hurt in the 1st period and Lebda left during the 3rd for a while for uinknown reasons and (I think) came back later on (I’m not certain he came back though). I know Chelios played in the second half of the game some, but sparingly and wasn’t his usual fired-up self. Basically… at one point the Wings only had 4 d-men. The CBC announcers seemed to completely miss this though (which doesn’t surprise me).

    It’s hard to hold on to win with only 4 d-men. Even harder when the video replay officials are working against you on top of it.

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