I thought someone would have started this by now but I don’t see anything. Here we go, the best time of the year for hockey. The last of the first games is on at the moment in Calgary and there is no score between the Flames and the Avalanche.
Other game 1 games:
Caps beat the Canes 4-2
Leafs beat the Bruins 4-1 (yay!)
Blue Jackets beat the Lightning 4-3
Islanders beat the Pens 4-3 OT
Blues beat the Jets 2-1
Stars beat the Predators 3-2
Sharks beat the Golden Knights 5-2
So, who are you cheering for? Here’s hoping we can have our usual lively discussion for the next 7 weeks!
Last time I started one of these threads, my team was up in the series 3 zip and lost. I will not make that karma mistake again.
Joe (Captain America) Pavelski scored the first goal for the Sharks last night by tipping it off his mouth. He missed, like, one shift of the game. A normal person would be out of commission for weeks.
Joe is from my high school. He probably just took a break, had a beer, and went back out on the ice.
When I was in high school (looong before Joe, I think his parents were a year behind me), one of my friend got hit in the face with a puck in the first period, went over to the hospital which was about 4 blocks away, got 5-6 stitches, and returned to play the third period. And this was an outdoor rink. He didn’t even get the beer (until after the game).
In the NHL, players are stitched up in the dressing room (by the trainers, I think) and then sent back out on the ice. My all-time favorite player, Owen Nolan, was once stitched three different times in one game.
But this is all stupid. Kids who play hockey have full face shields. Juniors have face shields. College players have face shields. NHL players should wear shields.
Every team, that I know of, has a team doctor who is present at every game and who stitches players, as necessary. I agree that all should wear shields but it is doubtful that it will ever happen. Many guys don’t even like wearing helmets. Of course, I’m old enough to remember when no one wore a helmet.
I learned to play hockey on the ponds. Always played without a helmet. Then I started playing indoors and took up playing goalie (the icon I use is actually me) and wore a mask. Still find it funny to wear a helmet when not playing goal, which is not too often.
I am a BIG Boston Bruins fan. Boy were they out of sorts that first game. Hoping for better in Saturday’s game.
I still believe that Bobby Orr is by far and away the best player I’ve ever seen. You could just tell from his body language when he was going to take off with the puck. The whole crowd at the game would rise out of their seats.
It used to be you could tell how old a player was if he didn’t wear a helmet (when he entered the league) but now they let them choose to wear the masks or not. Not all players come up through the US rules so don’t wear a face covering in college.
My sister was saying the other day that her daughter wore the same eye covering from 5th grade through college in lacrosse. Not the same style, the same PAIR of goggles! My daughter has had the same hockey helmet since she was 9 - small head.
I’m a Sabres fan (yea, really…) and my 2nd favorite team is the Canadiens. so I’ve just picked some teams to follow this year. I wanted Tampa Bay to go all the way after the Sabres faded, but Tampa is losing their minds. I despise the Penguins, so I’m happy about that series. I’m not a Caps fan, but dislike Carolina, so I’m hoping for Washington there… And I have no idea who I want in Toronto/Boston–really hate them both…
I’m not as well versed in the West… I probably want Winnipeg over St. Louis, San Jose over Vegas, Nashville over Dallas, and don’t really care about Colorado/Calgsry. I probably like Nashville best of all the Western teams, so I’m not doing great there, either…
I had a medical school classmate eons ago from California who stated hockey was not a major sport- this was in Wisconsin shortly after my UW years where I learned all about the sport from another woman friend and UW did well. Never could get tickets. Wish I could have talked to him a bit later when Wayne Gretzky was on a CA team!
For me La Crosse has always meant the city in WI with a U. Knew it was a game natives played a long time ago.
The first two Tampa Bay/Columbus games have to be the biggest surprise, so far, in this round. I honestly can’t see the Bolts not rebounding, given their spectacular season. Columbus is hungry, considering this is likely to be their best chance in the foreseeable future, after acquiring players that will almost certainly be gone on the free agent market this summer. And, of course, they also remember what happened to them last year after going up two games.
The Pens having trouble with the Islanders is less surprising to me than the Bolts being down 3-0. That is a real surprise. I would hope that they can find it within them to win tonight and not get swept.
I was at the Leafs game last night and they are playing well. It was an electric atmosphere in the city and certainly inside the arena. If they continue to play like they did last night, I’ll be happy. Fortunately, the officials kept the game under control and eliminated the nonsense that happened in Saturday’s game. I’m glad that Kadri is out for the rest of this series. He has always been an idiot and his actions were stupid and selfish, for the second year in a row. This may be it for him in Toronto.
@CountingDown I didn’t see the Caps game last night, obviously and was shocked to hear the score. What happened?
