farce poobah

Hatrick Kane gets untracked tonight.

This is outstanding satire. I hope it stays that way.

The anger in me likes Cavalry. But I still favor Roughriders. "The University of North Dakota is the home of the Roughriders. UND chose the name Roughriders in 2015 to honor the brave men and women who serve in our military. They epitomize honor, courage, pride, overcoming adversity and winning battles. Please use good sportsmanship tonight as you cheer them on to victory."

This series is the future of the NHL. Fast, faster, fastest. Speed kills.

Yeah ... He played such a terrific game but that one will haunt his dreams. I hope not more than a week.

Keith has several more years at 5.9 million cap hit per year. If there's a bargain inthe NHL at that cost, that would be it.

The only Blackhawk that was plus on the night: Keith. The only Bolts that were minus: Stamkos and Filppula. Hockey is a funny game.

Who'd a thought TVR got to the playoffs before big brother JVR. Another very entertaining game tonight. Hawks failed to convert a couple open nets early on and it cost them later.

Teravainen. You can't stop him. You can only hope to contain him.

And everything he gets, is because he earned it with hard work. That's real.

Hedman is the next Chara. Very impressive. Vermette goes from goat to hero ... after making a coverage mistake that led to Tampa's first goal, he gets the GWG. Thus improving the odds that Q puts him in the lineup for game 2. Even if it wasn't 5-4 like I expected, game 1 was very entertaining.

That's certainly an Inglorious name ...

George Gwozdecky.

The three stars of the game 7 last night - Richards, Kane and Toews - are all Conn Smythe winners.

I think the Anaheim-Chicago series shows once again that hits are overrated. In the modern game, its all about positioning, puck possession, and sustaining a territorial advantage. Time after time, Anaheim guys ran out of position to make hits, giving Chicago extended position and allowing them to gain the zones with the puck. And at other times, they came into a puck carrier with their stick parallel and nowhere near the ice ... allowing Chicago to make plays. As a result, the Ducks were chasing the puck most of the series, which is more exhuasting than being hit. At the end of the series, Anaheim forwards looked tired, and I think that was a big factor. Not sure what causes coaches to allow this to happen ... or to encourage it. Vancouver did it year after year with Vigneault as head coach and paid the price. In this series, Boudreau certainly wanted his team to hit. But ultimately Anaheim paid the price for all that hitting.

Jackass - yes. But I have yet to see the proof that Duncan Keith is human.

Very basic goaltending mistake - he failed to face the shooter square. Otherwise Crawford has been solid.

Duncan Keith played 10:31 in just the first period. He is unbefrickinglievable.

I would love to hear what Toronto was thinking ... Why it was allowed to stand.

Anaheim looked tired during the last two periods. Their top forward lines have logged a lot more ice time than Chicago.... * Getzlaf has logged 149 minutes so far, 10 more than any of Chicago's forwards. * Meanwhile, Chicago's bottom 6 forwards have taken 60 minutes more than Anaheim's bottom 6. Anaheim's hitting is way down ... Another sign of tired legs. For example in Game 6: Kane took 0 hits from Anaheim. Hossa wasn't hit. Toews took just 1. Keith 3, Seabrook 2. Bottom line, the extra day of rest may neutralize this - but it seems to me that Anaheim is showing signs of wear more than Chicago.

And if they became a hockey conference they would take UND in a heartbeat.

If I can clone one player in the NHL, I might just pick Duncan Keith.

The biggest beneficiary of matchups should be Kane ... Ducks lower two lines are vulnerable.

I gotta remember to bet on Kruger the next time the Blackhawks go into 3 overtimes. Anaheim's rink crew is going to need to replace the goalposts, which took a beating from Anaheim shots tonight er this morning. I predict the games in Chicago look nothing like what they looked like in Anaheim. Matchups are everything in this series too.

Smileys are for closers.