MafiaMan

Gee, was that Saint Mikko Koivu on TV last night saying that he's played outside the rules this series too? Say it ain't so, Mikko, say it ain't so...

I agree. On one hand, some of us (myself included) are arguing for the NCAA tournament to go back to top-seed-playing-in-their-own-rink format and now all of a sudden the argument is popping up for LESS home games so we can have more teams and more games in a "neutral-ice" setting? Count me out.

Oxford OH and Kalamazoo MI replaced Minneapolis and Madison on the travel schedule for the Colorado schools. Relatively short bus rides to Sault Ste Marie, Bowling Green, South Bend, Ann Arbor, East Lansing, and Big Rapids for Miami and Western Michigan have been replaced by trips to Grand Forks, Duluth, Omaha, St Cloud, and Colorado. That's a huge jump in travel expenses for those two schools.

Completely agree. The Wild will never be the North Stars and Jets 2.0 is not the red white and royal blue of the original Jets.

In Detroit's defense, Dave, captain Steve Yzerman was hurt in game 3 of that series and barely played in the two overtime loss, then didn't play at all in games 4 or 5. In addition, Manny Legace stirred up his own goalie controversy by publicly stating before the series that if Detroit was eliminated, he would not be returning as a Red Wing the next season. Not making excuses, but that Red Wings team was primed to be upset by Edmonton.

I've been a Red Wings fan since I was old enough to know the difference between a basketball and a puck...Yzerman wasn't on the team yet, Joe Louis Arena was a morgue even on game day, and the team was known as the "Dead Things," not the "Red Wings."

My apologies then, I give you credit for being a long-time Blackhawks fan.

You can't compare Miller's numbers with the Sabres to Halak's with the Blues...Buffalo was dreadful this year.

Well, considering you've been a "die-hard" Blackhawks fan for about, oh, I'm gonna guess 5-6 years now, your comment shouldn't be surprising...

You don't think he was an upgrade over Halak?

Is there a more-snake-bitten playoff team than the St Louis Blues? Great teams in the 90's and 2000's and they rarely make it out of the first round.

I don't think the importance of Miami and Western Michigan can be overlooked in the NCHC and I'm sure traditional rivals Ferris State and Bowling Green would love to see those schools in the WCHA. The NCHC shouldn't just be WCHA West.

Worst officiating crew EVER? 1999's Buffalo Sabres would respectfully disagree with you on that...

Patrick Roy and his gutless bunch of teammates were thugs in the mid-to-late 90's and he carried his antics over to game #1 of his coaching career with his hissy-fit against Bruce Boudreau and the Ducks. This shouldn't be surprising...

http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/m/sports/story?id=1036356 LSSU has a new head coach...

And how do you propose branding women's athletics?

6 goals in 5 games for Detroit...that's just not going to get it done. Franzen was atrocious today.

On the flip-side, that off-week worked out quite well for Denver in 2005...

What teams would you like to see added thru expansion? Are you thinking that poaching the WCHA for teams like Minnesota State and Ferris State would be a good idea? Personally, I think the NCHC is a little heavy on former WCHA teams and would have liked to see a little more former CCHA flavor added when the recipe for a new conference was put together.

The Kings were a solid #5 but moved up to #4 when the Maple Leafs fell out of the top 3.

We all know you long for the golden days of yore when the Glenn Miller Orchestra ruled the AM radio airways and you were busy settling down in your living room waiting for FDR to come on the air for one of his fireside chats, but 1980's hard rock/heavy metal isn't the "music wasteland" you make it out to be, NDH.

So this is after you were a #1 Devils guy followed by #2 Hurricanes guy and #3 Maple Leafs guy?

First career playoff win for Steve Mason of the Flyers, who played very well in net tonight. It wouldn't be the Stanley Cup playoffs without goalie drama in Philly, would it?

Wouldn't that be 2 NHL teams, a former NHL team, and a former NBA team? Or perhaps it's 1 NHL team, 1 former NHL team, 1 former NBA team, and 1 former NFL team?

Still a lot of work to do in the NHL...western conference with 14 teams to the eastern conference's 16...Florida and Tamp Bay in an odd divisional set-up...Nashville in the WESTERN conference and a divisional foe of mountain-time zone Colorado... It's still a better set-up than the past few years, but I miss the old 1-8, 2-7, 3-6, and 4-5 playoff format where teams are re-seeded every round.