Posted on 02/23/2006 6:25:28 AM PST by Hat-Trick
Nevermind. Kristy Swanson was Simone; Mia Sara was Sloane.
MOdano is a stand up guy. He was a stand out goal scorer early in his career. Then he adjusted his game to help his team win the Stanley Cup. He is generally recognized as one of the best in the game.
let the college kids play for Team USA.
It depends on the game. Both teams were running hot and cold especially between the pipes (there were some seriously not Roy and not Brodeur nights), Colorado ran hot 4 out of 7 times and won the series. Psychology probably is over stated, but most the games they lost (especially game 7) Marty seriously played out of character. Of course then sometimes maybe psychology is under credited, one of my biggest memories of Roy is how he seemed to always get a shutout on his birthday, those always stick out because Roy usually started seasons kind of cold and his birthday is early in the season, always seemed like the only game before Thanksgiving where he really played like Roy was that one.
The best American Goaltender was left behind. Ryan Miller from the Buffalo Sabres has about a .925 save percentage.
Blaim the pathethic performance on the brass who selected an old and slow team. Too old and MUCH too slow for the larger European size ice surface.
Derian Hatcher is unquestionably one of the 10 best defensemen in the National Hockey League. Very few blueliners are having a better year.
It was Hatcher who told/showed Crosby to grow up back in the fall when the boy thought this league was going to be easy. Broke a couple of teeth for him when he got tired of the whining to the refs.
That Devils team -- especially the defensemen -- simply ran out of gas.
Hatcher may have been among the ten best defensemen in the NHL at the peak of his career, but not any more. He might still be, if only the NHL played on an ice surface the size of my bedroom.
I love "Big Daddy." I watched Hatcher here in Dallas for 10 years. Is he one of the top 10 NHL defensemen? Maybe.
Listen, AB-C, I know what I'm talking about. I'm seeing Hatcher locally and, most surprisingly to me too, he's the big lug that I thought wouldn't adapt that actually has. He's crashing the net on offense, knocking guys flying, cutting angles and is doing without a lot of penalties lately.
I thought he was doomed but he's highly effective.
Didn't you see him go 10 feet in the air at the Olympics to grab a puck, hold the blue line and send a dart in on net? That was a great play.
The Devils are 16-9-2 since Lamoriello went behind the bench. There's going to be a three-team race in the Atlantic at the end.
As much as I hate to say it, the 'Canes still scare me. I think the Devs are 1-3 against them so far this year (might be 1-2, not sure). And they only seem to get better every game.
When it comes to my Devs, I'm not all that confident that way down the stretch you can make it out of your conference with only three really decent D-man (White, Rafalski, Martin). After that, the talent level drops off considerably (Matvichuk, Hale, Albelin -- although I'd take Tommy in a playoff situation 9 out of 10 times, but not for 20 minutes a night).
Let's see if the Olympic break slowed them (the 'Canes) down some.
What internal problems? The Devils go through this EVERY year or so; coaching issues, no sniper, no 40-goal scorer, 3 or maybe 4 legitimate horses on defense. Result: 3 Cups in 10 years.
Dream on about your Flyers, pal. My guess is they lose to Tampa Bay or Carolina (I'd laugh if they lost to the Rangers, btw)long before they get a whiff of the conference finals. Not many rookie goaltenders (even as good as Nittymaki) take their teams that far in the playoffs.
If Fosberg can get by one week without a paper cut that requires major surgery and a transfusion, maybe.
When Simone Gagne shakes off that vicious Kasparaitis hit he took the other day, maybe, but that looked like it's gonna bother him for some time. It was obvious they shot him full of something, braced him up and sent him back on the ice after that hit.
When Keith Primeau shakes off enough cobwebs to remember how to write his own name, maybe.
If Dejardins can keep his shoulder sewed on long enough to actually play three games in a row, maybe.
Otherwise, the Flyers don't scare me.
If we send pro players from the NHL again I want to see USA players who have no Olympic experience and a handful of our top college players. No more prima donnas like Modano, who was an excellent Olympic hockey player in prior games.
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