He's gotta be up there. Ya know, I was so happy when Keenan first made that trade because I knew Pronger had great upside and I was never a Shanahan fan. Mainly because I was a Hull loyalist and Shanny kinda stole Hull's status as St. Louis fan favorite.
Anyway, Pronger was great at times for the Blues but year and in year out his undisciplined play in the playoffs killed us. Plus I thought he was a crappy captain here. I think he's matured a bit, but we saw some vintage Pronger in the Detroit series. I'm expecting more of the same against the Sens.
Pronger is a great player dont forget what he did last year. You guys all know the sens will choke its only a matter of time after game two ottawa will be so black and blue they will need a map to get back to ottawa Ok the sens have a bit more skill but the ducks will just pound away until theres no more sens left I think it will go in to 5 games so that they can win the cup in anaheim ottawa is lucky to be were they are if they had played the leafs they would have been on the golf course a long time ago LOL.
Pronger is a great hockey player and came right out of the Peterborough Petes Organization so you know he is a special player.
I don't know why anyone would hate Chris Pronger and it bothers me that some people would write that. If he was on your team you would love him.
Anyway after all that said I say OTTAWA in 6 games.
I've been saying Ducks since day one because they are a skilled team + I expected them to beat the snot out of everyone; haven't really seen a lot of that. From anyone really, at least not since the first round. But I'm starting to waffle, I have been impressed with the Sens physical play, especially the d-men, starting to think it might be their year. So it's Ducks in 7 (head); Sens in 6 (heart).
Pronger - obviously a dominant player, except when he's asked to do it for his country. And Steve, who the hell doesn't love Shanny ?
As a Red Wings fan I'd pick anyone but the damn ducks. Go Ottawa!!! Besides it would be nice to see a city with an actual history in the sport take the Cup back to Canada. Hopefully the spirits of LeSueur, Walsh, Stuart etc will push the Senators over the stupid ducks.
If it was a bet for the best burn I'd have your money in the mail by now, damn that was good, haha. Email me if your interested- hockeyguy_49911@hotmail.com
Let's see. Who do I cheer for....Pronger....or Comrie! Tough choice seeing how I'm from Edmonton. I watched Pronger all year last year and only seen him take a few games off so IMO he is a talented player. Look what he did for the Oilers last season. Do I respect him as a person...NO! He or his agent did not handle the situation here very well last season. Not a fan of Comrie either!
I guess I have to go with the Sens as I want the cup back in Canada!
The series will go as Giquere goes. If he stands on is head they will win...if he does not the Sens will! IMO
Rob,
Even if I think that Alfie and Heatley should break Guguire no matter what he does, I liked your post, especially the Comrie part. Comrie is the Sens' weakest link. Email to me if you want more of my opinion on this...
Al, as for Ducks skills, Guguire, S.Niedermayer, Pronger, Selanne, Getzlaf have some but my cat can replace any of others
Those guys must have logged an enormous amount of ice time if they are the only ones responsible for 110 points Elmar. And while I cannot speak to the skills of your cat I am pretty sure that Burke wouldn't stand for any pussies in Anaheim.
Even if I enjoy our private conversations, we speak different languages and you wouldn't....no, let me re-phrase, you simply don't want to put any efforts to understand me...
2 of your tough guys hit Holmstrom badly and deliberately from behind. He was bleeding and out for 20 minutes (fortunately). I don't think your tough guys could calculate all of that, otherwise a little stronger hit, a little bit different angle, a few more millimeters of his face deeper into the glass, and he would be the similar flower as Steve Moore is. I prefer to be called a pussy but to punch an opponent straight in his face.
Actually I think you are not so brave by not wanting to call Selanne the Ducks’ best player. Getzlaf has 15 years to score 500 more goals but he will never (nor anyone in the next 5 decades) break Teemu’s rookie record. Al, accept that we don’t live in 50s and not all the best should be Canadian (still want the Cup in Ottawa).
Now Elmar, just because I'm the kind of person that thinks a little violence is an inevitable by-product of a good game of hockey doesn't mean that I'm a fan of Todd Bertuzzi; or of his actions; or action I guess, I don't think he's made a habit of driving people face first into the ice. But it's amazing how often that incident surfaces now whenever someone tries to justify or explain why they think the current gentlemen's game is an improvement over the game that I grew up with. It's like with fighting - someone gets knocked out and all of a sudden that needs to be banned as well. That's right, we need to consider removing fighting from hockey because some guy in Philadelphia doesn't do it very well.
I would point out that with the exception of Selanne all of your top Ducks are Canadians, BTW; and you don't have to go back as far as 50s to find a time when we dominated the game with both heart and hands. Try last year, if it's skill you want the top 5 scorers and 8 of the top 10 were Canadians.
Sure Al, you have hearts, everybody else is a biological freak.
I might need a chest X-Ray just out of curiosity to find out what kind of crap I have inside instead of heart.
I never imagined that the Ducks would dominate like they have. Sure the scores have been close but the play has not.
I see Alfredson is back to old form. Scared to go into the corners. Spezza looks lost. Hardly ever first to the puck and I havent even noticed Heatley.
Murray has to figure it out! This line has to dump it in and crash to get it back. They cannot break the wall at the blueline with their little finesse passes. They seem unwilling to get in the corners to make this happen? Is it Pronger or Neidemeyer or both....I think both
If this line does not get some passion in their game it will be over shortly. Sens # 1 line is playing like a 4th line and would have trouble vying for the Ringette championship never mind the Stanley Cup. Come on boys this is what dreams are made of...get the lead out! Terrible!
P.S. I am still cheering for this years...Canada's Team....go Sens!
Well said Rob, Spezza and Heatley appear to have reverted to form and are once again not willing to play a physical game; how you gonna win the Cup playing that way ? Haven't seen Alfie since he was laid out in game 1 trying to find the puck in his skates. Seems to me that Pahlsson and Niedermayer (Rob that is) have put the fear into them. Thank god for Mike Fisher and Volchenkov or it would be even more of a mismatch. I'd love to see the Cup back in Canada but I have to say that I love the way the Ducks are playing, classic playoff hockey.
I do like the way Fisher and Volchenkov are playing. You are right without their physical play it would be a laugher. I do have to say that the way the game is being officated really bothers me. They seem to miss the important calls and call all the cheesy stuff...drives me crazy! Like that hit that Comrie took...probably broke his nose and he never even came close to the puck...where's the call ref? Not that I like Comrie lol!
As for Getzlaf I also love the way he is playing. He is a monster! Wait till this guy matures. He will be a force and already is! Even Selanne has more physical being than our so called tough Canadian boys. Perry sure has some tenacity our there. Now that's heart. Probably learned that from Hunter in London!
Getzlaf is awesome, he's like Joe Thornton with attitude. Joe didn't exactly light it up his first few years so I think there's a good chance that this kid could eventually post some serious numbers. Not that that would necessarily matter, the way he is playing now is enough for me. He's big and strong on the puck but he seems to me to be really creative too, never seems to do what you expect him to do. And definitely a mean streak.
Not sure if they've played their best or not, I think they had to have come close in the third period of that first game, they were dominant. If they haven't the Sens are really in trouble.
Well that was more like it, although it was Fisher, Neil, Schaefer that had to get it done; is Dany Heatley even playing in this series ? I thought it was appropriate in the third when those three Sens and the entire line of Perry, Penner and Getzlaf were all sitting in the penalty box at the same time, the six best players on the night IMO. And why didn't they show about 50 replays of that save Emery made, that was incredible, did he not reach back with his stick and bat it out of the air ?
I think Pronger should be gone for the rest of the playoffs.
They just gave Pronger his penalty, A VERY nice slap on the wrist! 1 game. Thats a joke. That hit was so dirty and it deserved a 3 game suspension that would change the outcome of the series. But instead the NHL only gave 1 game so Ottawa could just tie it up.
Pronger is not the best player on the team right now if anything this may fire up the ducks I still think ducks in 5 the sens got lucky last night they played there best hockey I think there out of gas oh well at least they can spend a few days in the sun after game 5 maybe go see mickey and his pals LOL LOL
In case you are not keeping track...we already realized that you know hockey much better than all of us together, we already acknowledged your superiority, and no need to remind it to us so often.
Pronger scoring the winner in game 5 is looking like a nice prediction Frank. On the prognostication front I was 3 for 3 guessing the final winner and score until last night, I had the Sens winning it by 3-2 in OT; too bad they only showed up for a period (most of them anyway). As much as Neil contributed to the game 3 win I thought the turning point last night was that idiotic penalty he took right at the beginning of the second, that was just about the dumbest thing I've ever seen in a hockey game, totally took the wind out of them. And what was Alfie doing shooting the puck at Neidermayer ? Maybe that's the dumbest thing I've ever seen in a hockey game now that I think of it.
Exactly Frank.
What is fun for you is not necessarily fun for others.
Sens is not my favorite team (not even in my top 5) but someone definitely could get hurt with your "I told you so".
This really sucks! lol This is going to be the 3rd time in a row a Canadian team has lost in the finals! First Flames, Oilers and now Sens ...
Being a Leafs fan, I know how we have this beef with the Sens, but all that mattered to me was bringing the cup back to Canada. I mean the last time a Canadian team won was in 1993 I believe when Roy was with the Habs - long time ago ! :o
Honestly, I didn't watch much of the game once the Ducks made it 2-0 late in the first. I probably watched less of this Stanley Cup Final than I have of any other in the last 25 years.
First off, Frank congratson your predictions, Good thing you never took my bet, Lol.
Second, I agree with Steve, I barely watched this final at all. I hate spending 9 months watching hockey only to have a blow out in the finals! Once Ottawa scored on their own net, It was bed time.
For me it wasn't so much the lopsided series as it is the fact that I just don't watch much hockey anymore. I've kinda tuned into the playoffs the last two years, but I've probably watched less regular season hockey these last two seasons combined than I did during a typical week in the pre-lockout NHL. I really don't know if my interest in the NHL will ever return to what it once was.
