What, no hockey fans?

And lots of red jerseys stuck around for the celebration afterwards.  First there was plenty of BOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!  But, after the drunks booed and left it seemed to be quite respectible and sporting in the stands.

The only Wing I will make fun of.  Probably for a long time.  Suck it whore.

Monday parade honoring Pens will follow same route as Steelers'

The victory parade honoring the Pittsburgh Penguins will start at noon at the intersection of Grant Street and Seventh Avenue.

The parade's route will be as follows: It will proceed through Grant Street, loop to the Boulevard of the Allies and end at Stanwix Street. A stage celebration will be held along Stanwix.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taylormatt 

I got enough bets going with friends in MI.

 

Time to go collect

The Stanley Cup Parade...

"Pittsburgh police said as many as 375,000 people attended today's "City of Champions" parade for the Penguins, about 25,000 more than February's Super Bowl victory parade honoring the Steelers."

I took my son down to soak up some of Lord Stanley's vibes. We saw all the Pens parade by and bring up the rear was Malkin with the Conn Smythe then Crosby and Fleury with the Stanley Cup.  Just as they drove by Sid hoisted the Cup and the crowd roared. You know what's really scary? Sid has not yet left his mark on the finals. Max Talbot sure did. To quote an old Pittsburgh coach, this team hasn't peaked yet.

Two future Pens....

Check out this pic from 2004!

Sid on left....Mad Max on the right

Canada's 2004 National Junior Team training camp

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laurel Hill Crazie 

I took my son down to soak up some of Lord Stanley's vibes. We saw all the Pens parade by and bring up the rear was Malkin with the Conn Smythe then Crosby and Fleury with the Stanley Cup.  Just as they drove by Sid hoisted the Cup and the crowd roared. You know what's really scary? Sid has not yet left his mark on the finals. Max Talbot sure did. To quote an old Pittsburgh coach, this team hasn't peaked yet.

Last time I went to a Championshipo Riot a Championship Parade broke out.  I remember hitting a happy hour after the parade and watching the carnage that had broken out around the corner from me on the 6 pm news.
 

(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

It was a wholesome family parade for the most part. I heard there were 2 arrests. People stared to line up on the parade route about midnight. We arrived about 1/2 hour before the start and were back against the buildings. We had a decent view, much better than the Steelers parade. I forgot my camera and my cell phone won't send to my e-mail for some reason so I borrowed this picture taken about a block from where we stood.

So, I love the fact that tonight, I check out this thread and in the magic little Ads by Google box is the come on to talk about the Red Wings and their Stanley Cup win at some sport site.  Must really know their sports at that site if they think the Deadthings won the cup.

 

Great series all around.  Pitt played an almost perfect game, keeping the Wings on the outside, breaking up their chances and keeping their shot count low.  Seems somehow fitting that Hossa played great all season - was everything that Detroit wanted him to be and then up and disappeared in the final.  But then, I thought that would happen when he signed on last year.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tag 

Quote:

Originally Posted by fischermh To top Conklin, Hossa to the Wings. Can we just jump forward to the 2008/2009 playoffs.:

I dunno. If his past luck holds out, the Wings will have a great season with Hossa and then he'll disappear when the playoffs roll around taking the team with him. He's played on some very good teams and not reached the summit. Maybe he's a jinx?

 

Then again, I thought Crosby was going to be the difference maker in the finals this year after getting nothing last year and Detroit completely shut him down.  Actually, I would say that Hossa played well everywhere but on the scorecard.  He was flying on every shift and really worked hard.  Now the question is where will he be next year? 
 

I would agree with a number of the sports talkers on TV - this was a great series and was just what the NHL needed - two strong, evenly matched teams going at it for all seven games.

Congrat's, Pens, on a great win!

The Hurricanes are bringing back Paul Maurice and Ron Francis.  Maurice got a 3 year deal  We'll see you next year.  Now, if the Stars could just get it together

You can't go wrong with Francis and Tommy B.  Congrats to those two for their extensions/promotions.

I wish we could of stolen Tommy B, I'm not gonna lie.  I'd love to have him working with Fleury.

In my quest to continuosly kick Hossa while he is down...I found these taken at the Igloo during this series.

That might be the best use of a $200 custom jersey I have ever seen.

The Wild announce their new coach, Todd Richards, taken from the Sharks who has never coached at the NHL level before.  Richard's first announcement is that he wants to play an aggresive up-tempo game "just like Pittsburgh".  Great.  Except that, with the exception of Gaborik, he doesn't have any players that can put the puck in the net!  Little hard to play an up-tempo, offensive minded style when you don't have the playmakers and shooters, like a Malkin or a Crosby.  Last year (Gabby out for all but a handful of games), Owen (older than dirt) Nolan lead the team with 25 goals, his best season in 10 years and probably not likely to be repeated.  Will be an interesting free-agency period this year.  Wild have salary cap room but will most likely lose Gaborik.  With Gaborik back in the line-up, the Wild should definitely be back in the playoffs.  Without him, will depend on who they sign.....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taylormatt 

In my quest to continuosly kick Hossa while he is down...I found these taken at the Igloo during this series.

 

 

 

That might be the best use of a $200 custom jersey I have ever seen.

THAT is frikkin' hilarious!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tag 

  With Gaborik back in the line-up, the Wild should definitely be back in the playoffs.  Without him, will depend on who they sign.....

It is my recollection that Minnesota teams never really had a big time goal scorer unless you count Dino Cicerelli.  He only scored because all he did was camp out in the crease all day and didn't do much to help on defense. Neil Broten was a good all around player and having a Gold Medal Olympian sold tickets.  Bobby Smith came with a lot of hype but never really amounted to anything that special in goal totals.  Mike Modono was OK, but did better in Dallas after the Stars picked up Brett Hull.  It will be interesting to see if the sellout streak continues with lackluster offense.  Signing a sniper would really help the Wild out a lot.

I think with the new coach the sellout streak will continue for another season, but it's really being driven by the secondary ticket market buying up the remaining tickets for resale.  If the scalpers start to feel like they can't turn those tickets around, then the sellout streak will end.  My biggest concern is the sales job that the pro sports teams in Minnesota have done on their fans.  Every single team plays the "we can't compete because we're a small market team" card.  They sign one (at best two) big star(s) and pray that it'll be enough to get to the playoffs and just maybe catch lightning in a bottle and bring home a championship.  The Twin's have been the most sucessful at this and they have the most legitimate case since they don't have salary caps to prevent bigger teams from taking their best players, but the Wolves and Vikings considerably less so, although the Vikings have had better sucess on the field recently and are starting to see that translate to better ticket sales.  The Wolves have no excuse.  They blew their money on Garnett then could never draft nor afford to spend on building a team to go with him.  I'm afraid the Wild will go the same route with Gaborik.  Ovechkin by himself was not enough to carry the Capitals.  Pittsburg without Malkin or without Crosby would not be holding the Cup.  It was the same with Jordan, Kobe, Labron, or Garnett in his T-wolve's days on the NBA side.  You've got to have some depth in talent to take it to the championship level.  The Wild have been very sucessful both in ticket sales and marketing along with putting a decent product on the ice, even, at times, a good product on the ice.  At their best, the Wild could skate with any team in the NHL.  It's just hard to shake the feeling that to do so means that everyone on the Wild is playing above their ability and that's just not going to happen night in and night out over an 82 game schedule.

Like I said, with new ownership, new GM and new head coach, it's going to be an interesting summer.  Who knows?  Maybe they can convince Hossa to come join his fellow Slovak, Gaborik, and make another run for the Cup as the Crosby/Malkin of the MN Wild?

My man Max with the prize...

Too bad Fish doesn't have a TV.  He'd really enjoy watching this again.

Awesome to see Talbot get the nod to carry the Stanley Cup into the NHL awards with Malkin over Crosby.

He deserves it. 

REMINDER...

They are currently re-showing all 7 Stanley Cup Final games.

Game 5 on now

Game 6 @ 6pm

Game 7 @ 8pm

On the NHL Network

You mean you didn't record those games?  If I were you I would already have game 7 transferreed to DVD

Of course I have game 7 recorded...but that's for the archives.....this is on the box, right NOW

Big shakeup in Detroit!  Management decides NOT to offer Chelios a contract for next year .

Could this be the start of a (dare we say it?) youth movement in Detroit? 

I can see Chelios working in the Blackhawks orginization again, possibly playing but more likely somethine else..  He's from Chicago.