Dude, where's my puck??

Now you don't get to see this often. The goalie of the Chicago Blackhawks, Antti Niemi, gets frisked on the ice by both refs and his fellow teammates during Game 5 of the playoffs with the Nashville Predators. With about 3 minutes left in the first period, Niemi blocks a shot by Nick Spalling. And that's when the fun began. No one by the net can find the puck. Niemi started to do a wiggle, a dance and some stripping down to see if it's stuck on him somewhere, while one of the refs decided to go all in!
After a good few minutes, the captain of the Blackhawks, Jonathan Toews, casually lifts up Niemi's shirt and out comes the puck! Ta-da.



The fans were certainly entertained and got a good game last night. By the last period, Chicago was down one player with Marian Hossa in the penalty box for 5 minutes for hitting Nashville's Dan Hamhuis into the boards. The penalty is STILL being disputed by Nashville as not enough. Chicago's Patrick Kane then ties the game 4-4 with 13 seconds left! It's a shorthanded (when an opposing team has more players on the ice due to a penalty) goal! Overtime.

Hossa then comes out after his 5 minute penalty over his head and guns a blazin' to finish off Nashville with the winning goal 4 minutes into overtime. Chicago now leads the series 3-2.

Monday night's Game 6 in Nashville will determine if Chicago moves up into the Western Conference or if a Game 7 is necessary. Until then, keep track of your pucks.

Rangers. Done.

Crushed. Heartbroken. The Rangers are done and out of the playoffs after last night's intense game with the Philly Flyers. Henrik Lundqvist was amazing with the Flyers out shooting the Rangers at almost 2-1 and blocking 40+ shots coming at him. But in the end he couldn't block the winning goal in the shootout. He's still human after all. Where the heck was the rest of the team? Chris Dury? Marian Gaborik? It seems like the team was all over the place and not in the same place. Three periods, overtime and a shootout were needed for the Flyers to get the job done.

The Rangers had a great season and ended earlier than what their play and effort suggested. It's time for them to take a vacation (not that have a choice now) and plan for next season. I'm going to continue to watch the playoffs with a little sadness knowing that my Rangers won't be in it. Flyers, I'm going to keep a hawk eye after you. You better make this win worth it and beat all the rest as well.

St. Paddy's/Patty's/Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Paddy's Day! Hope you all get a bit of luck of the Irish today. Besides this being a day to let the beer flow, blasting some Dropkick Murphys (they're playing at House of Blues in Boston today!), dyeing the Chicago River green, and wearing green underwear, it is a celebration of Saint Patrick. Saint Patrick was believed to have successfully brought Christianity to Ireland around 400 AD. The shamrock was his assistant in explaining the Holy Trinity (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) to the people. This day has been celebrated for hundreds of years by the Irish Roman Catholics. It became an official public holiday in Ireland in 1903. Now the alcohol is explained to have started out as a break during Lent(40 days of fasting). And the tradition continues =)

Have fun and play safely!

Ovechkin Suspended

Well, Alex Ovechkin will be suspended for 2 games. Yikes. $232,000 will also be taken out of his pay. Ouch. Brian Campbell isn't doing much better. After being rammed into the boards by Ovechkin, Campbell will stay put and recover in Chicago for the next 3 games the Blackhawks are playing in the West.

This is the second time Ovi got a 2 game suspension this season. Sigh. But this time, the punishment seemed a bit much. Neither the Caps or the Blackhawks are too happy.

Blackhawks vs Capitals

Guilty. Absolutely guilty. I admit letting this blog collect dust after the Olympics. *Blushing in shame*
I'll get on track as soon as possible.

It's the end of the first period in Chicago between the Washington Capitals and Chicago Blackhawks with the Hawks leading by 2. This was due to some massive powerplays(the Hawks are known to be the best at it in the league). The first goal was made about 2 seconds after a faceoff on the left side in front of the Capitals net. Toews (#19 - Blackhawks) won the faceoff, then the puck made a round about with the Hawks and passed it back to Toews, then into the net past Capitals' goalie, Jose Theodore. It was a beaut!

Be back later with update of the game.
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Forgot to mention about the game misconduct Alex Ovechkin (#8 - Capitals) got for pushing Brian Campbell(#54 - Blackhawks) in the first period. Ovechkin charged on Campbell from halfway across the ice and from behind. Campbell flew straight into the boards! I definitely winced when I saw it. Ovechkin knew he was in trouble afterwards. And just stayed put and waited for the referees to cuff him. There's still a lot of debate going on right now of whether Ovechkin deserved 5 minutes and a game misconduct for this. Ovechkin is known to play ... rough. A game misconduct means ejection from the game. See you later, Ovie. According to NHL rules, 3 game misconducts will result in missing one game.

Into the third period and now the Caps tied the game 3-3. The Caps scored 3 in minutes!!
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END of third period and now we are into overtime to settle this score.
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Scored settled. 4-3 Caps. Ovechkin's team won in front of Chi-town. Niklas Backstrom (on the Sweden Olympic team) scored the winning goal. His second goal of the game. Now this is a comeback, after going into the third period and down by 3. It's not over until it's over.

Good Game

The gold game on Sunday, was probably one of the best games I've ever seen. Classic. A great closing to a great Olympics. Canada's Sidney Crosby got the gold medal goal in a sudden death overtime. even though the USA lost, there's no doubt how great this game was. Right after the puck made it in net, Ryan Miller just fell to his knees. I was crushed just watching him. USA gave it all and so did Canada. With less than 50 seconds to go in the third period, and 1 down, American Zach Parise scored and shocked the self-proclaimed hockey nation to bring the game to a 2-2 tie and into (a highly hoped and expected) overtime. It took Sid the Kid 7:40 mins to hit the net. It was a great game for the expected winners and unexpected challengers. I'm mighty proud of our guys and their silver =) They absolutely rocked! Also congrats to Ryan Miller for getting the Olympics MVP!

This Olympics was definitely better than anyone(including NBC) expected and could have asked for. There was joy, heartbreak, pride, anguish and everything you can get with having the best of the best. There was always someone to root for. But it was never tiring. Even curling(the brooms and rock thingy) made an impact. Have you checked out the Norwegians' argyle pants? Here's to a great Olympics and for more to come when the world joins together again in Sochi in 2014.

USA vs. Canada for the Gold

Tonight's game between neighbors, USA and Canada will be the last game of these Olympics. This has turned out better than anyone can imagine. Team USA was just supposed to do a good showing and leave this morning to go back to their day jobs in the NHL. Well, they had to change their plane tickets which I'm sure they didn't mind.
This is the game that I have no idea is more likely to win. USA blew everyone away from their first game. Canada is on home ice and has been the favorite coming into the Olympics. Even though these teams have met in the prelims, they are going in here with different strategies, different expectations, and looking it as a whole new ball(puck?) game.

I will be watching intently at ESPN Zone tonight. I'll tune back in tomorrow. Enjoy the game!!