DAMN YOU, SENS, PUT THE PUCK IN THE F-ING NET!!
... that said, it was a decent game. The Ducks played like shit the first period, which I appreciated and the Sens scored in the LAST SECOND of the first period. Way to go, boys-- Sometimes it really does take 19:59 to get it in. Regardless, there was a little bit of diving going on, but it's hockey: people fall down. The announcer did have a point when he compared Emery with Hasek in that there was an awful lot of diving going on just outside the crease.
Second period brought a resurgence from the Ducks despite the significant absence of Pronger, who is a dirty rotten bastard, I don't care what everybody else says. His hit in game 3 was blatant and cruel and totally uncalled-for and he should be publically caned. Or have frozen pucks shot at his bare chest from the blue line. Either one works for me. Anyway, the score was 2-2 at the end of the second period. In the closing seconds, the captain of the Sens went to clear the puck down the ice and happened to line up on Neidermeier (who is one helluva player, I'll give him that) and binged one off his shins. Was it deliberate? Who can say. Perhaps yes, but even then, should the captain be suspended? I say, no.
No, he shouldn't... and here's why: Hockey is a rough game. Boys become men somehow through slamming into each other play after play. They lose teeth. They smash facial bones. They split open heads in pursuit of the puck. You've got to expect a little roughness and to catch the puck in the teeth every now and again. Reminds you that you're alive, gets the blood pumping, all that business. And it's not like Neidermeier fell to the ice, grasping a shattered foot, ankle or shin as a result. The fight on the ice happened almost immediately, and the teams sorted it out for themselves. Let it be, I say. What happened to the old adage, no blood = no foul?
The game was marked by small flurries of activity on both ends of the ice. How the hell the Ducks goalie, popularly referred to as Giggy, managed to stop that firestorm from the Sens I will never know. It may be blasphemy, but I'm not particularly impressed by Emery in goal for the Sens. He just LOOKS shaky. And the apt comparisons to Hasek don't help any.
The rest of the third period was dismal at best. Perhaps the highlight of the commentary was the brief visit from Hockey Night in Canada Legend, Don Cherry. Just in case you'd forgotten, dear invisible reader, I have long harbored a love of basically all things Canadian, and there's nothing more Canadian than Don Cherry:
He's a delightfully funny, spunky, plain-spoken Hockey Legend, former coach and all-around upstanding citizen. He's all for fighting in the fine game of Hockey, and I'm all for him. And nobody rocks a pinstripe like this man. Also: please to note the case of Molson Canadian in the picture to the far right, the one with the red plaid suit... ahh, the goodness.
I dearly hope that the Sens can pull a win out at Anaheim in Game 5. They're down 3-1 in the best of 7 series, and the Ducks are tough to beat at home. Still, they've got to try. Ohh, lawd, they've got to try.
1 comment:
i miss proper hockey. *sigh*
Post a Comment