Raising Kane: Hawks 7, Canucks 5 (HAWKS WIN SERIES 4-2)
Holy crap, whatta game. Man, if you love scoring, you had to love this game. Both teams took turns looking like the 1984 Edmonton Oilers, and both teams took turns running around in their zone like the 2009 Islanders. It certainly wasn't a work of art, as the game was plagued by bad turnovers and dumb penalties by both sides, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a hell of a lot of fun to watch. In the biggest game of the season, the Hawks young guns were too much for the Canucks old Swede. Mats Sundin will have to return to his full-time job as an on-line poker shill.
THE GOOD
Patrick Kane: a hat trick. A friggin' HAT TRICK. You see that Barry Rozner? A guy you spent all last season slagging as locker room cancer and went out of your way at every turn to call a one-way player just put the team on his back in the biggest game the Hawks have played in over a decade.
Jonathan Toews: THE CAPTAIN. 2 goals and an assist for Toews. A brilliant game mucking pucks along the boards and going hard to the net. If you doubt Jonathan Toews, you do so at your own peril.
Brian Campbell: Soupy was +2 with 2 assists, and looked like a guy you give 7 million bucks to. Great game from Campbell, he was all over the place, and even managed to elude a checker with his spin-o-rama.
Adam Burish: Adam Burish only scores goals in series clinching games.
THE BAD
Fine, you want some buzz kill? Why not. The Hawks took too many dumb penalties. Kane had a hold 190 feet from his own net, Byfuglien threw an idiotic punch after a whistle right in front of a ref, Brouwer tossed a Canuck onto Luongo and we saw the return of the ever popular too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty. Why harp on this? Because you can't get away with that stuff in the CONFERENCE FINALS.
NHL Broadcasting: What sort of universe is this where Pat Foley will be watching the CONFERENCE FINALS from the stands while Ed Olczyk will continue to inflict his analysis on us from the booth?
THE UGLY
The Vancouver Canucks have already put a crack staff of 9 year olds to work redesigning their uniform logo for the 700th time in the last 20 years. Here's what they came up with, courtesy of Alex's Sports Blog:
THE GOOD
Patrick Kane: a hat trick. A friggin' HAT TRICK. You see that Barry Rozner? A guy you spent all last season slagging as locker room cancer and went out of your way at every turn to call a one-way player just put the team on his back in the biggest game the Hawks have played in over a decade.
Jonathan Toews: THE CAPTAIN. 2 goals and an assist for Toews. A brilliant game mucking pucks along the boards and going hard to the net. If you doubt Jonathan Toews, you do so at your own peril.
Brian Campbell: Soupy was +2 with 2 assists, and looked like a guy you give 7 million bucks to. Great game from Campbell, he was all over the place, and even managed to elude a checker with his spin-o-rama.
Adam Burish: Adam Burish only scores goals in series clinching games.
THE BAD
Fine, you want some buzz kill? Why not. The Hawks took too many dumb penalties. Kane had a hold 190 feet from his own net, Byfuglien threw an idiotic punch after a whistle right in front of a ref, Brouwer tossed a Canuck onto Luongo and we saw the return of the ever popular too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty. Why harp on this? Because you can't get away with that stuff in the CONFERENCE FINALS.
NHL Broadcasting: What sort of universe is this where Pat Foley will be watching the CONFERENCE FINALS from the stands while Ed Olczyk will continue to inflict his analysis on us from the booth?
THE UGLY
The Vancouver Canucks have already put a crack staff of 9 year olds to work redesigning their uniform logo for the 700th time in the last 20 years. Here's what they came up with, courtesy of Alex's Sports Blog:
Posted by CT at 5/11/2009 10:46 PM 
Categories: 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Chicago Blackhawks
Tags: Vancouver Canucks Chicago Blackhawks Canucks Blackhawks 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs
Categories: 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Chicago Blackhawks
Tags: Vancouver Canucks Chicago Blackhawks Canucks Blackhawks 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs
Do the Canucks still think Kaner gets lucky goals?!? That 3rd goal was a work of art! Hey Luongo, here's a box of tissues to go along with your golf clubs for the summer, you crybaby!
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That logo is absolute brilliance.
I got so excited about Toews' eventual game-winner that I accidentally posted Sharp's song in the Shoutbox. How one can confuse three white guy 80s-rockers from Texas with year-round playoff beards with Chuck Berry, who is decidedly not white, has no beard, and rocked about thirty years earlier, is not something I can explain.
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Patrick Kane: a hat trick. A friggin' HAT TRICK. You see that Barry Rozner? A guy you spent all last season slagging as locker room cancer and went out of your way at every turn to call a one-way player just put the team on his back in the biggest game the Hawks have played in over a decade.- agreed.
Two things on your penalties, not to defend the Hawks, but:
1. You could only see this at the game, Martin Havlat was JUMPED ON FROM BEHIND. He was literally being ridden into the net, then Brouwer came in, and Luongo went down. The fact that no penatly was called on Vancouver was absolutely ridiculous. Of course, I'm sure Eddie didn't show the viewing audience this.
2. Not trying to defend Byfuglien, but he was being run at, and he already had one Canuck in his face. He put his hand out to stop an attacker from coming at him.
Should he be doing that? Hell, no. I just wish the refs would've seen the whole picture, however.
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Loved Kane doing the Mosienko pose after the game.
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With my brother as my witness, I predicted Kane's hat trick at 7:15 Central Standard Time, a good 45 minutes bvefore they dropped the puck. True story.
And yes, Luongo took a dive on the Brouwer penalty. No point mulling over it now, of course. Also, I couldn't wait to hear what that cock would have to say after the game and sure enough, he ran otuta the room after 3 questions with tears in his eyes. BWAHAHAHA.
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100% concur with JDNoce on the missed call on Havalt immediately prior to the Brouwer penalty. I can't believe they missed that.
As for Buff, that probably is a rough, but they can't let guys get a full charge at a guy after a whistle. They could've called off-settings on that.
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I'll give you Brouwer's penalty, but Buff's was terrible. The Canuck was gliding up to him (no way was he full speed) and Buff just punched him in the face.
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CT, I just watched the replay.
You are right.
The Buff penalty was horrible. It looked different live. I thought he just put his arm up to stop the guy...nope...that's definitely a punch. Wings in trouble, here.
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