Get ready for NHL Stanley Cup playoffs

Ravvy · Post by **Ravvy** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 6:48 pm

NHL regular season is over, and the hunt for the Stanley Cup starts Wednesday with several Finnish hockey players to talk about over the next several weeks.

I am rooting for the Minnesota Wild (Koivu, Nummelin, Backstrom) but they have a tough first round draw against the Anaheim Ducks (Selanne).

I am really sorry that the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens got bumped out of the playoffs on the last weekend. Would rather have seen them in the playoffs than the NY Rangers and NY Islanders. (Yeah, and I hate the d@mn Yankees, too!

)

Hockey fans, identify yourself!

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teddibiase · Post by **teddibiase** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 6:55 pm

I fear the Marty Meltdown.

Ravvy · Post by **Ravvy** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 7:28 pm

teddibiase wrote:I fear the Marty Meltdown.

Is the reference to Turco, which makes you a Stars fan?
They never should have left Minnesota!

The old North Stars emblem is still the best ever, along with the classic Toronto maple leaf.

Mattlill2000 · Post by **Mattlill2000** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 10:31 pm

My beloved Maple Leafs lost out by a shot. Not to worry as they are a young team rebuilding for the future.....but it seems I've heard that before.....for like 40 years.
I've got to go with a Canadian team first, and for me its probably the Ottawa Senators. But......Minnesota Wild looks good and our local bar has a strong Karpat crowd, so by raving about Backstrom, its always a way to get a pint!
Heres a pic when I was eight years old. Go Leafs Go!

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Ravvy · Post by **Ravvy** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:51 pm

[quote="Mattlill2000"] Heres a pic when I was eight years old. Go Leafs Go!

That photo is priceless

If you can believe it, up until last year I was still skating on skates which looked much like the ones in the foreground of your picture (Bauer circa 1972).

Ravvy · Post by **Ravvy** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 4:54 pm

Mattlill2000 wrote:But......Minnesota Wild looks good and our local bar has a strong Karpat crowd, so by raving about Backstrom, its always a way to get a pint!

Article about Backstrom in today's Minneapolis paper.

http://www.startribune.com/1330/story/1110331.html

raamv · Post by **raamv** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 5:04 pm

are Stars in playoff contention...its been a while..

Ravvy · Post by **Ravvy** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 5:18 pm

raamv wrote:are Stars in playoff contention...its been a while..

Yup, the Stars begin a 7-game series on Wednesday in Vancouver vs. the Canucks.

kmboll · Post by **kmboll** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 10:28 pm

Ravvy wrote: They never should have left Minnesota! The old North Stars emblem is still the best ever, along with the classic Toronto maple leaf.

I still think it's a disgrace to hockey to let the Dallas Stars keep that name and logo. I'll never admit that there's such a thing as a Dallas Star and not a MN North Star.

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 10:29 pm

I think and indulge and watch "Slapshot"

Ravvy · Post by **Ravvy** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 3:36 am

Hank W. wrote:I think and indulge and watch "Slapshot"

Here is some trivia that you might already know. The "Hansen brothers" in the movie Slapshot were three hockey playing brothers in real life up on the Iron Range of northeastern Minnesota. In reality they were the Carlson brothers (Jack, Jeff, and I cannot remember the third one) who grew up right down the road in Virginia, MN & my high school played against them several times. One Carlson brother was my age, one was a year older, and one younger. They played together on a forward line in high school & all wore those heavy black plastic athletic eyeglass frames popular at the time (as did I). I think one of them played in the WHA and could not be in the movie, so somebody else was a stand-in for him. They were real hockey players! The youngest of the three Carlsons was probably the best athlete in my opinion; I remember he was a very good pitcher in baseball. Anyway, that is what I remember about these guys. Probably somebody could check my memory against info on-line, 'cuz those Hansen brothers have gathered a sort of cult following ever since the movie first came out.

Ravvy · Post by **Ravvy** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 3:40 am

kmboll wrote:
Ravvy wrote: They never should have left Minnesota! The old North Stars emblem is still the best ever, along with the classic Toronto maple leaf.
I still think it's a disgrace to hockey to let the Dallas Stars keep that name and logo. I'll never admit that there's such a thing as a Dallas Star and not a MN North Star.

I totally agree. At least the Texans enlarged the star and dropped the "N", which gives them a small increment of credibility.

teddibiase · Post by **teddibiase** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 4:14 pm

kmboll wrote:
Ravvy wrote: They never should have left Minnesota! The old North Stars emblem is still the best ever, along with the classic Toronto maple leaf.
I still think it's a disgrace to hockey to let the Dallas Stars keep that name and logo. I'll never admit that there's such a thing as a Dallas Star and not a MN North Star.

Don't see how it's a disgrace, but, whatevs, cholo!

Ravvy · Post by **Ravvy** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 5:08 pm

teddibiase wrote:
kmboll wrote:
Ravvy wrote: They never should have left Minnesota! The old North Stars emblem is still the best ever, along with the classic Toronto maple leaf.
I still think it's a disgrace to hockey to let the Dallas Stars keep that name and logo. I'll never admit that there's such a thing as a Dallas Star and not a MN North Star.
Don't see how it's a disgrace, but, whatevs, cholo!

I think it was a case of 'those dang cowboys way down south stole our hockey team from us', and insult to injury was that they retained the northern name (thought personally I think they made a nice transition from North Stars to just Stars, similar to the NFL Cowboys logo).

Ravvy · Post by **Ravvy** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 5:14 pm

Ravvy wrote:
Hank W. wrote:I think and indulge and watch "Slapshot"
Probably somebody could check my memory against info on-line, 'cuz those Hansen brothers have gathered a sort of cult following ever since the movie first came out.

So I checked my own memory, and what I said was fairly accurate. Here is what Wikipedia says about the Hanson Brothers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanson_Brothers

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