So I’m doing something a little different here.  I’ve talked to a Red Wings fan (GASPSHOCKHORROR) and we’ve both written up little ditties about why our teams will win.  Only one of us can end up correct on that.  Only time will tell!  So, I present to you,

Why the Stars will win:

Despite how frightened most people I know are of this series (and me, too, I’ll admit it freely), I really think the Stars have a shot.  You can look at the regular season record against the Wings all you want, but this is a different beast.  You want reasons?  Oh, I’ll GIVE you reasons.

The acquisition of Brad Richards at the trade deadline didn’t look so awesome in the month of March.  And then, suddenly, the playoffs hit and BOOM!  Dallas had three capable scoring lines, centered by Mike Ribeiro, Mike Modano, and Brad Richards.  Not to say that the Stars had no depth in scoring beforehand, but having a guy like Brad Richards, who exhibits some patience with the puck and makes smart passes, certainly helps.  Winger Brenden Morrow has been nothing short of a William Wallace-esque leader in the two series that have passed, always able to give a little bit more to get his team into it.  No one will soon forget that quadruple-overtime game and the goal Brenden scored to win it.  Some lesser known names have stepped up as well - Stu Barnes has suffered concussion-like symptoms since that big hit in a game against San Jose, but Toby Petersen, the fourth-line center, stepped up and picked up his minutes in that magical game six.  Antti Miettinen was the one to score the Stars’ first goal in game six, Loui Eriksson has six points in the playoffs, and Joel Lundqvist has four.  If these guys can keep playing at this level, I have no doubt that they can push through Detroit’s defense, good as it is.

The Dallas defense has been pretty awesome since Sergei Zubov got back to 100% (although he’ll argue that he’s only at 99% - possibly still upset with himself about those two intercepted passes?).  I will fully admit that Detroit’s defense is absolutely incredible, and Dallas’s might not match up.  Sure, we have Zubov back, but we do still have three rookies back there (Nicklas Grossman, Mark Fistric, and Matt Niskanen).  There are, though, two guys who have been incredible.  Stèphane Robidas took a puck to the face and came back to the game after suffering a broken nose (insert your own joke there about poor Robi and his poor nose).  Mattias Norstrom surprised the hell out of me with his five points (two goals, three assists) and fairly awesome play.  Philippe Boucher suffered an unfortunate injury in the Anaheim series, but he is apparently skating again, which has to mean he’s close.  Right?  RIGHT?!?  One could say that the Dallas blueline will be outmatched, like, hardcore.  Then again, you could have said that about the Ducks as well, who have an experienced and talented blueline.  The Stars seemed to handle that okay.

And, of course, goaltending.  You know what?  I don’t even want to talk about it too much.  Everyone is making a big deal out of Marty Turco’s record at the Joe, but this has been the season of shaking monkeys off backs.  I’m fairly certain Marty can shake this monkey off, too.  Sure, he has a 2-10-5 lifetime record against the Wings.  Sure, he’s never won in Detroit.  But you know what?  Right now he’s boasting a 1.73 GAA and a .929 save percentage.  Those aren’t numbers I’d want to mess with, even if I am Chris Osgood with a 1.52 GAA and .937 save percentage.  Marty seems to have a fire in him right now, a certain determination, and that will fuel him through this series.

The Stars have asked me to believe, and I have.  I will continue to, despite how scared and nervous I might get.  The Stars have faith in themselves.  People are comparing this 07-08 team to the ‘99 team that won the Stanley Cup.  This team will have to fight hard, undoubtedly.  Will they?  I have no doubt in my mind.  Will their fans believe in them?  I think so - I certainly will.  Every member of the Stars organization believes that this team has what it takes, and I do too.

Behind the jump, find out why Steph believes that the Red Wings will win. 

Why the Wings will win:

First and foremost, depth.  That’s not to say that Dallas is over there running a one line team, but the Detroit is literally overstocked with playoff-capable guys.  The Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom line is always formidable (and looks to be sticking together for now), but the second line of Filppula-Franzen-Samuelsson is just as scary.  The Hudler-McCarty-Helm line looked spectacular against the Avalanche.  Every line is trouble.  The hard hitting combo of the finally healthy Niklas Kronwall and trade deadline acquisition (thanks again Connie!) Brad Stuart is just worrisome to opponents as the skilled playmakers Nick Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski.  And Dominik Hasek, despite losing his job to Chris Osgood and playing pretty damn shaky in those two series two games, isn’t yet something suited only to laugh at either.  And the truly scary thing is the guys waiting in the wings - maybe they aren’t the most talented guys, but the Wings don’t have a single liability.  Lose a forward (potentially Filppula) and Kirk Maltby with all his playoff experience is ready to join his former grind line partners.  A defenseman, and Andreas Lilja is ready - and sure, sometimes he’s sketchy, but the fact is for the better part of the season he was out there every night, and while he it’s obvious the organization (rightfully) doesn’t trust the final top four d-man spot to him, look at the season we had with him there.  This leads to the biggest asset the Wings have going into this series - the puck possession game they can play constantly with this much talent means the pressure never lets up.  There’s never a chance for the opposition to breathe; the Wings just keep coming - and they’re not afraid, anymore, to play a down and dirty style hockey game - which is exactly what we expected last series, and exactly what we might get this series.

And in tandem with that depth and pressure, sheer goalscoring.  In the first series, Johan Franzen along put up as many goals as the Colorado Avalanche as a team.  Throughout the first two rounds of the playoffs, Detroit scored 38 goals total.  Of course, Dallas scored 35, a very comparable number, but can the Dallas defense neutralize powerhouses like Franzen (11 playoff goals so far), Zetterberg (7) and Datsyuk (5) easier than Detroit can Dallas top producers Brenden Morrow (7), Mike Modano (4), and Jere Lehtinen (4)?  Doubtful.

And then there’s goaltending.  Detroit’s stellar defense plays a huge role in the success of its goaltenders no doubt, but Chris Osgood, while he might not be the sort of goalie to steal games for us, is certainly the sort who won’t lose them for us, either.  Since he replaced Hasek in game in game 5 of round 1, he hasn’t lost yet.  And while it might be jinxing it to mention it - and (you knew it was coming) while it certainly isn’t anything you want to play real faith in - it’s hard to ignore that Dallas’ Marty Turco, while playing out of his mind at some points not only this year but in last years’ playoffs as well, has a 2-10-5 lifetime record against the Red Wings, which includes an 0-7-2 record in Detroit, where he has posted a 3.38 goals-against average and a .882 save percentage.  Ouch, Marty.

Finally, the Wings believe.  Countless members of the team, the organization, the fanbase, have mentioned that this is the best Wings team they’ve seen since the last cup.  Will it be easy?  Of course not.  Maybe they won’t be able to dominate the way they did in round two, maybe they’ll have to dig deeper through their wealth of skill, talent, grit, determination, confidence, than they have up to this point.  But can they do it?  You bet.  They’re simply too well put together at team not to - and I think they know that too.  They’re smart.  They’re scary.  They’re healthy.  And it would take a hell of a lot to get past them feeling the way they do right now.

Guess what?

The Stars are opening Victory Park to the fans to watch all games on the big screens outside the AAC.   Fans are invited to bring blankets and lawn chairs, per The Almighty And Glorious Lord Of The Sweater Vest, Mike Heika.

I can tell you that Cat, Jen & I will be there on Saturday, May 10th at the AAC, and I figured — hey, there’s a lot of you out there who live in Dallas who we know via the magic that is blogging.

Basically, if you’d like to meet up, it would be a real pleasure to have a lot of the like-minded fans around; I’m going to try and work out details if, you know, anyone wants to come hang out with us.

If you’d like to meet up, please drop me (Caitlin) an e-mail at hockeycoma@gmail.com.   It would be nice to see you there!

This is so awesome. I love the fact that I get to write this right now. I don’t think many people expected the Stars to pull off even a first round victory, after the March they had. Instead, the Stars dispatched of the Ducks in six games. And then they drew the Sharks, another Pacific division rival, and almost swept them. Sure, it may have taken a pretty monumental four overtime game to do it, but man, playoff OT hockey is SO AWESOME.

It’s often said that the Pacific is the toughest division in hockey. I would tend to agree, if only for the presence of the Stars, Ducks, and Sharks (no offense to the Coyotes - you know I love Bryz; or the Kings - CKim knows that I’ve got a fondness for Anze Kopitar that can’t be explained). The Stars, Ducks, and Sharks lately have constantly battled for top dog in the Pacific, and the fact that the Stars came out of this one is pretty awesome.

Marty Turco and Brenden Morrow, STARS of round two. Marty Turco continues to make amazing saves and stand on his head to keep his team in it, and Brenden is always there to make that play when you need it. He’s truly an inspirational captain, I must say. I mean, I don’t know what’s said in the locker room. Everything I’ve heard tells me that Brenden is the kind of captain that leads by example, which makes sense, as he is the guy who gives 3147801347089513% every night. Even Dave Tippett said, “And then I think about Brenden Morrow and I go ‘Wow, I’m going to ask for 5 or 10-percent more from this guy? That’s a lot!’”

Next up, the Detroit Red Wings. Although I’m quite nervous about this series, I’m also extremely excited. The Red Wings are an incredibly skilled team, and the Stars have always seemed to have a little bit of trouble at Joe Louis Arena. Will they be able to pull of the same thing they did in the first two rounds with two consecutive victories away from home? The Red Wings are facing a different Stars team than they were earlier in the season. This Stars team is brimming with confidence, skill, talent, inspiration, everything.

The Stars ask me to believe. I will.

crossposted to Hockey’s Ladies of Greatness

I really should be updating this more often, considering how the Stars are doing, but I’m, um, quite lazy, really.

First of all, let me just say that I am loving this. The Cowboys got beat by the Giants last season, the Mavericks just got knocked out of the first round earlier tonight, but the Stars are going strong. And I do mean strong. They’ve had their weak spots, it’s true, but everything seems to be coming together in the right way and it’s totally awesome.

The most important piece of news I can pass on to you is that Russian has returned. I purchased a pack of Russian blend cigarettes and have been smoking them in honor of one Mr. Sergei Zubov. He hardly looks like he’s been out for three months. That man is amazing. He must have some form of cyborg technology that allows him to play so well. He is Locutus of Borg. Resistance is futile. The Stars have rotated seven defencemen since his return in Game Two, and it seems to be working out for them. Russian played almost 26 minutes tonight, so props to him.

The Stars are looking so, so good right now. It’s not that the Sharks look bad, it’s just that the Stars look better.

By the way, you can check me out on the latest episode of the I’m Not A Puck Bunny podcast. I’m also on episode 10, and will hopefully get to go back soon. I’ve taken Finny down, and it looks like Steph and I might be duking it out soon.

I’ve had a couple of days to calm down (and believe me, I needed it), so I can coherently speak about the Anaheim/Dallas series now.

First of all, BOO-YAH!

Secondly, there were some outstanding performances in this series. Stephane Robidas, of course, who has always been incredible, but he has really stepped it up with the veteran leadership. Mattias Norstrom totally surprised me by basically ruling. The rookies were impressive, particularly Mark Fistric with his 53170891357 blocked shots, and bailing Turco out when he left his net to bump into…Someone, I think it was Selanne. Brenden Morrow is the heart of this team, and is a great captain who leads by example. Loui Eriksson and Joel Lundqvist, our sweet Swedes (congrats on the baby, Joel!), were great. Stu Barnes, Steve Ott, everyone. Every single person on this team clearly wanted it, and they got it done.

So with San Jose winning game seven (way to step it up, Calgary, thanks a lot), that’s our second round opponent. Battle of California, we meet again. Honestly, I felt confident about either possible matchups - Avalanche or Sharks - but I’m mostly hoping the Avs can knock the Red Wings out. I feel quite good about the Stars right now, and I think this San Jose/Dallas matchup will be interesting - it’ll be fun to see if the last game of the season will spill over. I wouldn’t mind seeing Otter go after Thornton again.

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!

All right, guys, game four is tonight.  I’ll be in attendance, and I’m hoping that the Stars will give me more reason to cheer than they did on Tuesday night.  Granted, Tuesday night was actually fairly excellent in the third period.  The guys came out strong, scored two goals (well, Brenden scored two goals), and gave the 18,585 people in attendance a good reason to scream.  I’m hoping that the momentum from the third period will carry on into tonight’s game - the last thing I want is to be tied 2-2 in the series and going to Anaheim for game five.  Obviously the Stars have performed well in Anaheim in the series, winning both road games.

I’m in my computer applications class, and he’s making us do something called work?  I’m unfamiliar with this concept.  At any rate, I’ll update after the game, if I’m not ready to kill myself and/or fall asleep.  I’ve gotten very little sleep these past few days, so I would very much like to actually try and sleep before my 8am class tomorrow.

I just wanted to pop in and say “YES!  GO STARS!”

I love that the Stars from February seem to be back.

I love that the Ducks are totally dumbfounded.

I love that I’m watching Minnesota and Colorado in overtime right now on Versus, and they keep talking about the Stars and how awesome they are.

I love that Marty Turco rules so hard.

I love that the Untypical Girls will be present at tomorrow night’s game.  I do not love that I have school to get in the way of my obsessive playoff hockey viewing, but that’s all right I suppose.

I love every single one of our players.  Every one.

I love hockey.

P.S. As I was about to hit “publish”, Minnesota scored.  I really, really love hockey.

There’s a lot of questions for the game tonight.

Will the Ducks be as penalty ridden as the other night? Will they come out stronger than they did the last game? Will Niklas Hagman kill someone this evening? Will Stu Barnes make retarded decisions like picking fights with Chris Pronger again?

I guess we’ll find out, starting at 9:00 p.m. LiveBlog starts at 8:30.

In other news, some teams won some playoff games, but the only one I’m talking to you about is the Pens. I know everyone’s sick of the Crosby Hype Machine and the made up Crosby/Ovechkin rivalry. But once upon a time, in a land far away, there was a certain Russian who played for the Pens…

Ignore the fact that he won a Cup with the Rangers. The Rangers blow, and I’m not giving them any credit here. This may have been just an excuse to post a picture of Russian in a Pens uniform…but go Pittsburgh, that’s all I’m saying.

Oh yeah, and if you haven’t ordered your WWGRD wristband, the Pensblog’s got ‘em back up for sale.

Pre-Game

Earl Sleek at Battle of California has pointed out that the Ducks are like the Ducks of the Mighty Ducks 2, who go to the Junior World Title Class Whatever Olympics and are killed by Iceland, but rally from behind to beat those evil Icelanders. The Stars, of course, are the inevitable mean, European dudes. Now, Mr. Sleek, I hope you’re enjoying the view from Row B and we’re keeping an eye out for you on TV, but I do have to say that in The Mighty Ducks 3, Gordon Bombay’s replacement coach at the swanky prep school, the moral and righteous man who taught the Ducks some great life lessons, was a Minnesota North Star player. I don’t know what to say about that, other than - hmm.

There’s no actual pre-game tonight, because I forgot this is being aired on KDFI, so I’m watching a depressing 30 minutes of “Decision House” before the game. God, this show is so terrible and sad.

1st Period

Wow, Ralph has a total pimp suit on so he wins the tie battle, hands down.

It is taking ten years and eight days to start this game, I swear. In other news, a fake Russian won the game for the Habs tonight. Woooo!

19:49: WOW, does this feed ever blow. It looks like they’re sending through a colandar, then sending that through a cheese grater. Oh well, at least it saves me from having to see Todd Bertuzzi’s face in sharp, nice clarity.

18:16: The Stars are looking fairly solid as they hammer Giguere, but then again, the Ducks are looking stronger than they did the other night. Selanne and Boucher? Still totally hate each other.

16:26: Look, guys, there’s Brad “Second Star” May! Isn’t he just such a remarkable player?

16:03: Ott just tried to decapitate someone. Okay, Otter, enthusiasm is encouraged, but let’s keep from killing someone, please. That’s Hagman’s job, really.

15:23: So far, the game looks fairly even for both sides; no team is tilting the rink quite yet and both teams look like they’ve done their homework. Dave Tippett, however, looks like he’s sulking on the bench. “Gimme my playoff win!”

14:42: Pronger sets up on point to try and hammer in a puck past Marty, but man, does Marty ever look sharp. He’s hunkered down in the net, carefully guarding the five-hole. All I can say is that I don’t know what Marty Turco did to prepare for this series, but whatever it is, it’s working. (I put five bucks on speed, personally. Just kidding.)

13:36: Can I say how sweet it is to watch the Brothers Niedermeyer get beat on a sweet, sweet breakaway caused by a not-so-good pass stolen by Mike Ribeiro? Awesome.

Back on the bench, Ribs is like, “So, yeah. Zey were trying to steal my flava. I had to show zem what up!” You go, Ribbons. You show them. (Now, will someone please make sure he left his gun in the locker room?)

1-0 Dallas.

11:30: There goes Hagman for hooking, and he’s brought the crazy-eyes like no one’s business to the game. He pretty much hooked Selanne, pushed him down and then pushed him in the face. Hagman’s all like, “You no Finnja! I will be second most famous person in Finland now! After you gone, only Santa Claus left! AHAHAHHA!”

Ducks on the power play and here comes our own personal shout out to Patty.

10:34: Stu Barnes says, “Caitlin, I’m not that old,” and retrieves the puck from the Duck power play-ers and hustles it down towards Giguere. Then he kind of just goes, “Ummmph,” and leaves the puck. Ookay, Stu. You still did good.

BOOOOOOOOO!

10:00ish: YOU MORON, NIEDERMEYER! Nothing makes me happier than this little bit of schadenfreude, because Niedermeyer, The Sacred Saint of The Blueline, just pushed down little Robi, The Unsung Hero of Defense, in front of the net which sends Robi sprawling on the ice. Ref calls interference and the shot of Nieder in the box is so, so sweet.

9:21: Here we go on the power play, and Ralph makes me giggle some more because he informs us that Chris Pronger was on the PK for three of the Stars power play goals last game.

8:35: I’d like to take a minute to mourn the fact that both Mittens and Fishsticks are scratched this evening. Mittens, Fishsticks, yes, there are people who wish that you were playing this evening.

P.S.: The Stars power play still looks pretty sharp! Woo!

7:20: Ducks kill the first penalty. You win some, you lose some. And then Niklas Hagman comes on the ice and says, “I don’t care what you won or lost, I’m going to make you hurt”.

6:42: Man, as soon as the Ducks get a whiff of a scoring chance, the Stars run it back down to the goal. Marty wobbled a bit as the Ducks came back on the push, but he wound up with about four people sliding on their asses into the goal. Yet another game, where it looks like human ice-bowling.

5:50: Slick pad deflection by Marty and Ribbons is all gangsta-style trying to keep people out of lanes. It kind of looks like Ribbons watched one too many kung-fu movies on Saturday afternoons.

5:10: Joel Lundqvist, I salute you for being a valiant Swede who is the better Lundqvist in my book. There’s nothing like having the Swedish Mafia on your team.

Commercial Break: The Ducks aren’t taking lots of stupid penalties like they did last game, nor are they as soft looking. Turco still looks sharp though, and our fledgling defense is holding it together.

Razor informs me in Marty’s last four road playoff games, he’s got a whopping .982 save percentage. Holy Shit Marty Turco. I should just make a shirt that says, “Holy Shit, Marty Turco”.

…And have Marty Turco sign it.

4:33: Richards gets a shot on Giguere, followed up by Lundy trying to backhand it in. No dice, but that’s okay. Still heart you both.

3:07: The Ducks are back in our zone, but Ribbons just looks semi-possessed. Apparently he’s either taking speed or he’s been drinking out of Hagman’s water bottle again,.

2:31: Niskanen got hit against the boards by Moen at what I declare is an “ouchworthy” angle. You need to keep your head up, Niskanen…

1:57: I love it when Mo poke-checks people. Heh.

1:29: The farther we get along, the more and more the Ducks are getting hit-happy. It seems we can’t go ten seconds without the boards rattling ominously. Prongmonster, let’s keep them all intact this evening.

1:15ish: HAHA, that bench shot? Classic! We got an image of a scruffy, pimpish Ribeiro blowing bubbles on the bench, Hagman looking as though he’s picking out his next victim, and Robi looking just plain sweet.

:19: HSMT! (I’m abbreviating “Holy Shit Marty Turco” now.) Bertuzzi passes sweetly to Getzlaf, who nails it over to Bertuzzi and somehow in the traffic of bodies, Marty just slides over like it’s no big deal to just deny Selanne cold. Way. To. Go. Marty.

:00: 1-0, Dallas, still.

Some more goals would be nice, guys…

Myra should be happy — it’s Otter at the intermission.

INTERMISSION:

Due to an unexpected phone call, I missed Otter’s interview, but that’s okay.

Back in the locker room, a certain French-Canadian defenseman receives a phone call…

Boucher: Hello?

Russian: Where is Niskanen? Hello? Who is this?

Boucher: Oh, hey man! It’s Boo-Boo. Niskanen’s being looked after by the trainers.

Russian: This is unacceptable. Get him in here.

Boo-Boo: Sorry, man, no can do.

Russian: Damn it, man! Take notes.

Boo-Boo: What? Take it easy, Sergei.

Russian: You tell Niskanen that he is Moscow and Norstrom is Saratov, and that Marty is Kiev! Kiev! Kiev! Are you writing this down?

Boo-Boo: What in the hell are you talking about, Sergei? Man, you should really be resting.

Russian: For the love of God, tell Niskanen they cannot reach Volgograd! Unacceptable if they reach Volgograd!

Boo-Boo: Man, you’re going to work yourself into a stroke if you don’t take it easy. Come on, Sergei, just relax. We got it.

Russian: Our stronghold is in Kiev! It must be protected at all costs!

Boo-Boo: Okay, okay, we’re protecting Kiev! Now just…lay down, take a Valium, you know, play a game of chess. Do something other than freak out.

Russian: I cannot believe this. What an indignity. I cannot be playing and you tell me to lay down.

Boo-Boo: Listen, I wrote it down. I’ll tell Nisky what you said. We’ll protect whatever you just said -

Russian: KIEV!

Boo-Boo: Yeah, that, we’ll protect it. Take a sedative.

Russian: You just wait until I come back, things will be diff –

Boo-Boo: *hangs up* Putain!

Given the first, I feel optimistic for the second.

2nd Period

18:56: Some Duck took a penalty and we’re on the power play. Woo!

18:32: Fifth power play goal according to Ralph! There goes Scary Jere with his bad ass, Slayer loving self, who says, “Giguere, FEEL MY LOVE FOR BLACK METAL” and kablam. 2-0, Dallas.

18:01: Oh, here we go, delayed call on the Stars. Please, please, please don’t have all smoked crack in between periods and decide to take stupid penalties, Stars. (It was Eriksson’s penalty.)

ERIKSSON! Now Brett Hull really is going to steal all your food! Goddamnit, Eriksson.

17:09: Bertuzzi tries to scare the shit out of me by attempting to set up a nice little goal, but luckily it fails. Marty might have been able to make the save on it though. Might.

DAMN. Damn, damn, damn. Selanne scores on Turco right through the legs. I HATE THE FACT THAT YOU DIDN’T RETIRE, TEEMU. Why couldn’t you have gone back to Finland and partied with Santa Clause and HIM or something?

2-1, Dallas.

Let’s make it up, Stars, come on.

Now I have to sit here and look at grosstastic closeups of Selanne over and over and over again. Eww.

Oh, and we’re back to fixing boards again. Damnit. Can’t someone have a talk with building maintenance or something?

15:45: I am watching the Ducks hit the hell out of Jere Lehtinen and it’s not pretty. And then…we ice the puck. The last thing we need right now is for the Stars to allow the Ducks to tilt the game, so please, please, guys? Make it happen.

14:13: After a good shift from the Ducks, Lundy manages to retrieve a puck and then practically stops and looks down in shock. Come on, Lundy, you can do better than that.

12:48: Ribeiro gets a nice chance on Giguere but can’t…make it happen. Sigh.

12:20ish: Jere Lehtinen just comes up all smooth-like and pokes out a puck from a Duck. Said Duck has no idea what the good Christ just happened, so he skates on like yup, he’s got the puck. When he realizes, finally, what’s up, they’re all scrambling to try and cover Giguere. That does warm my heart. Thanks, Scaaary Jere!

11:25: Whoever has that duck horn in the stands, you’re dead to me. Seriously. May I never go to Honda Center.

11:02: I can’t tell if Nik Hagman just tried to push it in over Giguere’s pad, or if he was trying to get in close enough to Giguere to strangle him to death.

10:24: Grossman shoots it on Giguere who makes the save and this makes me really, irrationally pissed, because I want Grossman to get a damn goal already. We’re back in our zone after what seems like an interminably long time in the Ducks zone. Huh.

9:20: After watching Matty Norstrom foul up Todd Bertuzzi, I’m sorely tempted to take every bad thing I’ve ever said about that enormous Swede back. Matty, you’re back to square one with me! Thanks!

8:15: Huh. There’s Earl Sleek! Earl, you have such dark hair! That’s about all I can tell from 8,000 feet away; that and the fact that you’re wearing the infamous green shirt.

7:30ish: Ribs just got laid out by Second Star May. I guess tonight, May’s aiming for first. He sets his sights high, you know.

I took a small break to run and get a drink, and when I come back, Bertuzzi’s in the box. YES.

5:46: I wish I could say I was lying, but I’m not — when Bertuzzi showed up on the screen, my cat hissed. A scrum starts for the puck and Morrow nearly gets run over, loses his helmet and then Robi takes a shot, is denied, and then nearly gets run over after being knocked over. Jesus. Take it easy, Ducks.

Beauchemin nearly starts shit with Brenden at the bench, and Morrow goes to the box but they’re “offsetting minors” so we’re still on the power play.

3:41: Oh, FUCK. Moen scores shorthanded on Turco and I’m just…appalled at that setup, because it started with Bertuzzi coming out of the penalty box and he just got it in over/under Turco’s leg.

We follow up with Mo getting a shot on Giguere, and Hagman is getting messed with by some Duck…and, the guys really need to do better.

Hagman is talking to one of the refs and it’s pretty funny to me for some odd reason.

3:06: Oh, Boo-Boo. Kunitz gets a breakaway, Bouche follows and falls, gets up, can’t catch Kunitz and so instead falls and slides, stick out to block the shot. That’s what kind of guy Boucher is. Man, I heart you Boucher.

2:00ish: Ralph sums it up best: “Getzlaf falls, Mo’s going to the box”. Mo didn’t do shit, so it’s nice to know the refs will call that penalty, but not the cheapshots we’ve been seeing all night. The Stars PK needs to show up strong right now.

God Almighty, can we talk less about Henrik Lundqvist? I care far more about sweet, kindly Joel than Evil Ranger King Henrik. Ralph & Razor are talking up Henrik & the Rangers’ playoff series.

:30: Power play over; we’re back at full strength as Niedermeyer bowls Brenden Morrow over. Thanks, jerkface. WHAT? What penalty? Delayed penalty and Brenden Morrow is shaking his head like, “What the christ?”

So we start the third on the PK. Good idea, Stars.

2nd Intermission

Screw Razor; Jen points out to me that Holmqvist’s been kindly opening/shutting the doors for players again. That Holmqvist, such a well-mannered Swede!

I’m taking a break to not…shoot myself in the face. Be back shortly.

3rd Period

Brenden’s in the box for charging.   Oookay.  Whatevs.

17:44: Penalty, thou art killed.

17:00ish: Turco makes a good save.   Sigh.  Rob Niedermeyer nearly kicked his skate into Marty.   Not.  Cool.

17:17ish: Is this a joke?   We’re going to the box.  Again.  What the hell.

Richards goes for tripping.  Dude, Brad Richards is like…a boy scout.  Come on.

16:47: Ralph describes Stu as “tearing away” but really, it’s more like a leisurely skate in the park for poor old Stu.

15:49: Hagman and Mo haul the puck into the Ducks’ zone and promptly take a shot on goal; Hagman just throws himself into some Duck.  If Hagman’s going down, he’s takin’ someone with him, dammit.

WELL THANK GOD. Ducks are going to the box for holding.

WHATEVERTIMEWHATEVER: Oh my god.   Mo gets the puck down to the Ducks zone with some fancy stickwork, passes it around, and promptly just fucking shoots it in from the blueline.   Right past Giguere.  Beautiful!

The hug he and Robi share is fucking amazing and chokes me up a little bit.   Two assists in the game for little Robi!

13:00ish: OH MY GOD!  Lundy gets hammered — poor Lundy — but passes it up to Eriksson who gets it to Richards who just — gets it in past Giguere from the right.   Giggy’s reaction is classic whiny brat-esque, and Richards nets a goal.  Oh, how wonderful.  Brad Richards, thank you a thousand times over for doing that, so I could witness Bratty Giguere one more time.

We seem to have some sort of team meeting about whether or not Richards should get a delay of game penalty, which is just..god.   If you’re seriously arguing for “delay of game” - from the Ducks side - then the refs should start calling everything on both sides, which is not going to happen.

Ducks on the power play as the refs vote in favor of the Ducks.

But then Bertuzzi seems to have douched it up on Daley, so he’s going to the box.

Thanks, Todd Bertuzzi!  You even got Razor to go, “Whee!”

10ish: Hagman sees open ice with the puck on his stick and goes charging like an elephant towards Giguere, but fails to knock it in.  Pronger managed to douche it up even more, thereby landing him in the box for some pretty blatant holding.

4 on 3 in Dallas’ favor, here we go!

OH MY GOD.

NIEDERMEYER! On the brief resulting 5 on 3, to kill out the last of it, apparently Scott Niedermeyer decided, hey, let’s fall on Brad Richards to keep him from scoring.   Seriously, this team…so repulsive.

8:20: Full strength now, as Pronger gets a breakaway out of the box and it takes three Stars to keep him relatively away from Turco but he still manages to at least get a chance.

6:30: Some Duck gets actually checked by Mo and falls down and is pissed that no call is made.   You’ve now figured out Mike Modano’s super secret ninja plan, what can I say, Ducky McDuckerson?

5:34: This  Eriksson/Lundqvist/Richards line is pretty sweet!  And right as I type that?   Swedish Fish scores!   Well played, Mach I, well played!

5-2 Dallas!

3;34: Seriously, Peterson and Crombeen are playing?   Have we even iced them all night?  Regardless, Hagman had some of his Satan juice and is out there rockin’ it.

Bertuzzi, you piece of crap.  Get up.   All alone on the boards by yourself and you just fall down and then grab your face?   Did you have a sudden crisis of conscience or what?

I’d like to take this moment to sing a line of Avenue Q:   “SCHAAAAAAAAAADENFREUUUUDE!  S-C-H-A-D-E-N-F-R-E-U-D-E!”

That’s all, really.

Brad May really isn’t doing much of anything on this shift, just making with the skaty-skaty.   I’m sure that means he’s thinking, “Look!  I’m on the ice!   I’m totally getting the first star tonight!   Wooo!”

I’ll be interested in seeing the Star selections this evening, Anaheim media.

:46: The Stars are still fighting!  Way to go, guys!

:00: It was 45 more seconds of “Let’s fuck a bitch up” from Anaheim.  So there you go.   Can the Stars do this back in Dallas?   Jesus Christ, let’s hope.

________________________________

I have to say a brief thank you to everyone who stopped by tonight and commented - Myra, Jen, Cat (Jen & Cat, natch), Kirsten, and CKim, your comments all made me laugh and I’d like to say thanks for stopping by and spending the game hanging out here a bit!

Three Stars in just a sec.

3.  Ribeiro

2.  Getzlaf

HAHA!   Razor just said the “#1 Star has to be Brad May!”

Razor, how I love you.

No, #1 star?   Brad Richards!   Way to go, B-Rad!   And we even get a sweet interview with him to close out the night.

]]> http://untypicalgirls.wordpress.com/2008/04/12/liveblog-stars-at-anaheim-41208-what-now-bitches/feed/ Caitlin http://untypicalgirls.wordpress.com/2008/04/10/liveblog-stars-at-anaheim-041008/ http://untypicalgirls.wordpress.com/2008/04/10/liveblog-stars-at-anaheim-041008/#comments Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:28:52 +0000 Caitlin http://untypicalgirls.wordpress.com/?p=170

Just a friendly reminder from your neighborhood Russian-loving Stars fan that I’ll be liveblogging the game tonight starting at 8:30 p.m. CST here. Do me a favor and drop back by, will ya?

6:45 pm: Another quick reminder. If you have tickets to home games 3 & 4 here in Dallas for the Stars/Ducks playoff series, the Stars are aiming for a blackout in the stands. Wear your black home jersey, black shirt, black…whatever to the game. Don’t have one? Show up to the gate early - the Stars will be handing out black playoff shirts to the first 15,000 fans.

Also, I’m watching Detroit/Nashville and they just mentioned Russian on the broadcast. Somehow, that feels dirty and wrong.

If you’re interested in checking out an opposition view, I can’t direct you quickly enough to Battle of California. Earl Sleek is the Ducks blogger in residence over there who is by far the best Anaheim blogger I’ve read. Earl also writes for NHL Fanhouse and wrote a pretty fair-minded analysis of the Stars/Ducks matchup the other day. For everyone else in the Pacific Divison, BoC is a great place for a daily read.

Back soon; I’m off to eat dinner and do real-life things before the game.

Pre-Game

It strikes me upon reflection that not all of our readers know the great and wonderful tale that is Russian and Happy Meals — as pointed out by Kirsten, who came in halfway through this glorious saga. So I’ve taken the liberty of summing up the Niskanen/Zubov defensive relationship for you, right here, before the game.

Way back when, at the beginning of this season, the Stars were planning to bring up a defenseman from our AHL affiliate permanently. The stars aligned well (pardon the pun) for Niskanen, who had never really played in the AHL and was straight out of college.

Somehow, little Happy Meals landed himself a defensive partner in one Sergei Zubov, who as WE ALL KNOW, is criminally ignored by the mainstream media (until this season), deserves a Norris (and they give it Lidstrom every year), and is generally all around one of the Stars’ best players. Let’s put it this way: before even thinking about resigning Mike Modano, the Stars were determined to get Zubov’s contract nailed down. Top priority.

So, Russian and Happy Meals began to solidly play on the blueline together. You would see these funny little moments where they were joking and laughing together on the bench. Now, we all know how we view Russian. Crotchety, cranky, a solitary fellow who enjoys a quiet game of chess against his pet alligator, Iskristiy, and a nice chilled bottle of vodka. Russian has no time for things like cameras, or press, and is terrified of people. He wants to play hockey. He wants to win. He likes team. End of story.

(Seriously, the man’s quotes are all the same, “That award’s nice but I just do it because I like to win, and I like my team and I love to play hockey.” Stick the quote in a blender and you’ve got every Sergei Zubov quote almost ever.)

Happy Meals, on the other hand, we knew NOTHING about.

So we speculated. An average conversation between Russian and Happy Meals would go like this:

Russian: You need to back into the defensive zone quicker.

Happy Meals: I’m trying, man, it’s just..

Russian: You are trying my patience, that’s what you are trying! Lenin help me, I will throw you into the Volga!

Happy Meals: *pause* …What’s the Volga?

Thus led to endless jokes about Happy Meals turning Russian’s television programming from Meerkat Manor to Beavis & Butthead, stealing all of Russian’s beloved Cocoa Puffs, and generally terrorizing him by cluttering and disordering Russian’s carefully organized, neatly planned existence. Russian counterattacked by mercilessly picking apart every aspect of Happy Meals’ defensive play, including making him study Russian military history (including the unabridged history of the Red Army) and even whilst injured, coming to the rink to make sure Happy Meals kept to Russian’s exacting standards. When Russian discovered Happy Meals was picking up notoriously bad habits from an unnamed Swede, he immediately launched into a three-hour lecture on the siege of Stalingrad and promptly hit Niskanen with an imported Russian hockey stick.

Russian: I swear, if you don’t play better, I’m going to feed you to my alligator.

Happy Meals: ….

THERE, that should catch you up! So, if you didn’t know before? That’s where all those beautiful jokes come from.

ACTUAL PRE-GAME

For once, Luddy doesn’t look like he was dressed by the Thompson Twins, which is altogether promising and Rhadigan is slightly less Tyrannosaur looking. I just realized that Dave Tippett really is the “Stars Coach” edition of the Mr. Potato Head, just…life-like.

Razor wins the tie battle. Because I say so, and because I unabashedly *heart* Razor.

1st PERIOD

I think people forget about our hardcore Russian. And by that, I mean that if our defensive corps screwed up tonight, Russian would be on the first plane out to run drills and scream at them about Red Army troop movements while holding Iskristiy on a leash like some sort of Bond villain. He’d have a map with Risk figures and everything, and one of those nifty metal pointers.

Do you have that, Anaheim? Do you have a cranky, hermit-like Russian whose entire life is devoted to winning?

Zubov is the factor no one’s factored in there. Factor. Factor factor. (I had to throw it in three more times just to run it into the ground some more.)

19:30: Hit by Robi on Getzlaf. So this game’s starting on a positive note.

18:47: Someone hit Norstrom. He bobbles for a second, and then just recovers. Is this Swede made of Silly Putty, or what? Oh yeah, and Morrow Morrownated Earl Sleek’s favorite player. Ha. (Sorry, Earl.)

18:20: Sheesh, Grossman just hit…some Duck player. Well, get it out, Grossie, get it out.

17:16: Jeez, everyone is hitting everyone out there. It’s like bumper cars. Two quick pad saves by Turco.

16:40: HEY. Anaheim, I know you play a wickedly physical game, but let’s not push Stu Barnes down and then hit him again, just to be sure. The hell? Stu is old and in need of some spare parts, so let’s not screw up a hip or a shoulder or something.

15:00ish: Ha! I just saw Eriksson gnawing on something and thought, “That can’t be right”. I was right. It’s his mouthguard, not actual food — but then FSN completes my own little joke by showing me Lundy looking all intimidating and some such.

One of the things I love most about Marty Turco’s “away” mask is that it’s covered in what Marty says are “gargoyles”. I call shenanigans, Marty, because we all know those are alligators and you’re just trying to mollify Russian. It’s your own little tribute to the Stars’ favorite pet, Iskristiy, Marty — you don’t have to lie.

14:04: A Ducks player has finagled a puck into the corner and Dallas desperately scrambles like craaazy to get it back, leading Mo to go over there and give the Duck player the old Russian pokey-pokey trick; except Ducky McDuckerson over there has fallen over and Mo instead is just jabbing him in the guts. Repeatedly. Heh.

Shouldn’t have laughed, because when we come back from break, the Ducks are going on the power play. I’d also like to take a moment to point out that this game is featuring a serious lack of Mittens.

13:22: First Stars shot on goal of the game by — who else — Snake Eyes Hagman, who looks promptly pissed that Giguere tried to cover it up immediately. I think if ever we see homicide via Hagman (Hagicide?) it will be in the playoffs. Anaheim’s kinda running all over us right now, but Robi manages to clear the puck. Thanks, Robi!

11:12: After messing around a bit, Hagman looks like he’s about to roundhouse kick someone in the face for the puck. Take it easy, Hags.

RALPH. RAZOR. Please stop talking about Russian. WE ALL KNOW.

10:30ish: OHO, so Richards is useless, eh? He beats Niedermeyer to get to Giguere and get our SECOND shot on goal. Good job, B-Rad. Of course, once Giguere gets a glove on anything, he has to be an enormous jackass and stop play. Everytime.

10:15ish: Kunitz gets a breakaway; Marty can’t grapple with the puck; we look like the Ducks are beating us up for milk money right now.

8:35: WOOOOOOOOOOOOO! ATTABOY ROBI! (See what happens when Caitlin likes you? Good things!) I have never been more proud of someone in…my entire life. Oh, Robi. You get so little credit for how awesome you are and I hope everyone stands up right now and salutes you, my French-Canadien fiend.

6:48: The Stars have a little more oomph in their game now; I’m eating Cap’n Crunch out of the box. Because I can. That’s how I roll.

5:46: This is a refreshing change! The Stars have gone from defending to pushing into the offensive zone! Repeatedly! And they’re standing up to the Ducks’ pushiness quite well. WOOO! I’d also like to point out that I’m not only rocking the Zubov shirt tonight, I’m rockin’ the Zubov jersey.

Heh, I’m watching this D&M Leasing commercial with Ralph & Razor and Ralphie just called Razor a “purse-clutcher”. GENIUS. Robi’s goal is given to Otter, who deflected it in. It’s still a goal, and I know there’s another one coming for you, Robi, honey.

3:56: Penalty on Anaheim for cross-checking Daley, and here we go on the power play. Gangsta Ribbons is out on the first PP unit, meaning Anaheim better watch out. You know Ribbons grew up in those Montreal ghettos and will not hesitate to show you what up, Anaheim. Giguere gets a stop where he has to spread-eagle and scramble to make it. I must say, I’m glad we’re not facing Breezy in this.

2:54: Ribbons, what have I told you about being fancy? Ribeiro tries to fancily keep it in play over the blueline and instead causes everyone to bobble and turn it over.

2:26: We get it back and Brad Motherfreakin’ Richards sets up Swedish Fish (Mach I) for a goal! Congratulations, Eriksson! Please see Brett Hull in the pressbox for your Arby’s sandwich! (Please, eat. The Ducks are going to break your eating disordered ass, honey.)

And this Richards fan says: HOW ABOUT THAT, Richards with the assist! Loui and Richards look like they’ve totally become BFF forever. Pretty soon, they’re going to be braiding matching friendship bracelets, just like you did at church camp, you know.

2-0, DALLAS. WOO! Boucher and Selanne start to get it in (what the hell, Teemu!) and Bertuzzi just comes up and dunks Boucher into the ice. Not cool, Bertuzzi, you scum. You shouldn’t even be playing in this league anymore, and next thing I see, Chris Pronger’s got a hold of Stu Barnes and is yanking on him. It looks like Stu is saying, “Come on, bring it!” to which I say, “Stu, Pronger can break your face, please don’t do that”.

Otter’s engaged…everyone. Selanne and Bertuzzi land in the box, and man, Mr. PotatoHeadCoach is SO not happy about it. Can we tell these two teams hate each other? We seem to be having some sort of team meeting at the penalty boxes right now. Tippett just said “Fucking joke” on the bench, and the penalties aren’t really kosher, but…the officiating’s been so bad this season, whatever. We’re on the power play. Again.

:30ish: Giguere makes…a belly save. Literally, he just curls up and takes it in the stomach. Alright then, Giggy.

:00: Dallas 2, Anaheim 0. The Stars literally have to keep this pace throughout the entire series. Ig uess we’re about to find out if they can do one more period of it.

1st Intermission

We now take you to a (hypothetical) phone call between Happy Meals and Russian.

Russian: I saw what you did. How could you be so lax defensively! That does not help the team win!

Happy Meals: I know, I’m just so nervous… I heard you on the earpiece, you just starting jabbering away in Russian.

Russian: Have you not learned Russian yet?

Happy Meals: ::silence::

Russian: What am I supposed to do with you? That’s it! That’s it! Iskristiy, where is my laptop! I must book a flight RIGHT NOW!

Happy Meals: Look, Coach beefed up security around the locker room and the plane, man. They’re really concerned that you’re going to strain yourself.

Russian: (brief snippets of incoherent Russian) The only thing I am going to strain is my arm when I whack you with my cane!

Happy Meals: Look, I know you’re really upset about not coming on this trip –

Russian: All I want to do is support my team and support winning. I don’t know why Coach is trying to take this away from me.

Happy Meals: Hey, man, we’ll be back in Dallas before you know it.

Russian: Hold on a second. (mumbling in Russian) Iskristiy requests that you bring Pronger and Getzlaf back to Dallas.

Happy Meals: What? Why?

Russian: He says it will make up for bad defensive play and that “monster man” and “Baldy” will make for good eating.

Happy Meals: Dude, I have to go now.

2nd Period

Here we go….

Scary Jere! Laughing on bench! Oh Jere. Here, have a few bars of Raining Blood, just because you’re such a bad-ass. Dun dun dun, dun dun dun, dun dun dun… okay, go score, and then I’ll hum the rest.

17:28: Getzlaf just went to the box. HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

16:30ish: Boo, offsides. Oh god, Nisky and Norstrom are talking. No good can come of this. Empires shall fall, droughts shall ravish lands, you know. Same old same old.

16:02: WHAT DID I JUST SAY SCARY JERE! HAVE THE REST OF SLAYER ON ME, HONEY! DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN X 1,000! Woo!

15:45ish: Schneider goes to the box. Man, Anaheim must really like that penalty box, huh? Randy Carlyle looks rage-y over on teh bench. Which makes me laugh. Really hard.

Back on the power play…

15:18: Niskanen just fumbled the puck on the point on the power play. Can you hear that in your ear, Niskanen? That’s the sound of a screaming Russian straining on a couch somewhere in Dallas. You’d better hope the alligator hurries back from the kitchen with that Stoli. And soon.

15:00ish: Ribs goes to the box for interference. What. Evs. Marchant, stop being such a whiner.

4 on 4 hockey, woo.

13:39: The Ducks have the power play advantage and while they’ve set up in our zone, the guys do a good job of keep-away and Marty makes a nice deflection with the pads. The Ducks hammer it back and Marty is half in, half out of the net, sprawled like his life depends on it to make the save. Attaboy, Marty! This is the kind of goalie we all know you are! Keep it up, honey! Keep. it. up.

12:31: Back at even strength.

8:09: Sorry for the delay, but I had to restart my computer! Boo!

7:09: Turco, get back in your net! BACK IN YOUR NET! God, you get way too happy with this whole skate around, skate around crap.

We stop play here to fix some issue with some damn glass. Whatever.

5:27: Eriksson just got destroyed pretty much; but it’s nice to know the GREATEST BLUE LINE EVER IN THE HISTORY OF HOCKEY is faring so well against Modano and Co. this evening.

Someone takes some stupid penalty, so Anaheim goes on the power play.

4:22: Oh man, Morrow just got elbowed in the face and knocked right over. These teams really hate each other.

4:00: HOLY SHIT MARTY TURCO. JESUS CHRIST. The Ducks and Stars are jammed up around the net trying to block and score defensively and Marty just rolls around, does the splits, stands on his head and does a damn pirouette to keep the puck out of the net. And then, displaying the rancor we all know and love, the players fight. Ah, the sweet days of bench clearing brawls between Dallas and Anaheim.

Ott goes to the box to keep Boucher company, because they’re both sweet, perfect angels.

Norstrom has a black eye and I feel suddenly indignant on Norstrom’s behalf. What the hell?

3:11: Some Duck just upended Mike Modano, who stands up like, “Huh?! What?”

2:00ish: Man. Boucher tried to rebound a puck past Katamari Goalie over there, and winds up as a human bowling ball instead, leading Getzlaf to start shoving and yelling with him. Whatever. Boucher didn’t intend to run your goalie, Ducks. And like you bitches have any room to complain.

2:45: We’re amazingly on the power play again, and I stop to admire Ribbons’ gangsta skates, and then holy shit - we win the faceoff. Ribbons sets off to the side, and just pops it on over, gangsta style to Brenden Morrow, who pots another one.

4-0, Dallas.

Oh.

My. God.

KEEP IT UP, GUYS!

2:17: Some Duck just slid face first into the net like five seconds after the faceoff. Heh! If it hadn’t been for a bad set of luck, Eriksson would’ve just made it 5-0, due to Giguere’s terrible positioning. And I do mean terrible.

1:00: Hagman is going ballistic out there. Every shift, the guy amazes me. Seriously. It’s like you put an ICBM on the ice.

:09: Anaheim takes a penalty, but I have to say, Brad Richards? Having a hell of a game. Am I going to take a second to say if he can keep this up, we did okay on that trade? Yup.

Oh, man, the Ducks fans are booing like crazy. YES!

2nd Intermission

Whatever, Ludwig & Rhadigan. I have something better than your stupid intermission report.

I present…

ISKRISTIY

Oh, yeah. That’s right!

3rd PERIOD

Still on the power play.

16:34: Lots of … skating around.

God Almighty, Pronger just hit the hell out of poor Joel Lundqvist and broke the boards.   Good job, Pronger.   Douche.   I hate you, Pronger.   And I like my favoritest Swede, so back off.   Keep a weather eye out for hungry alligators.

At least Lundy’s intact and laughing with Toby Peterson.  Oh, friendly Lundy.

Wow.   Brad Richards looks like a cracked-out chipmunk.   I like you Richards, but damn, dude.

Okay, all I heard Razor say was “People don’t know Hullie’s a junkie”…and my brain automatically filled in “for Arby’s.”

Back in action after board/glass repair from the Prongmonster.

14:55: Norstrom did something useful!   He poke-checked a puck from Selanne!   Wow!   Way to go Matty!

13:28: The Ducks are attempting to rally back, but the Stars look pretty determined to not let that happen.   Thank God.

13:01: Someone just butt-checked Robi and sent him sprawling to the ice.   DO NOT APPROVE, THANKS.

11:00ish: The Ducks coach looks like he is about to cry.   Woah.

10:38: A face-off in Marty’s zone and the Stars get it out; please, guys, let’s not hang Marty out to dry this evening.

9:47: The puck decides to bounce all over the place as Giguere looks around like, “Who?  What?   What?  Where?  Who?”    HAHA!

9:13: Some Duck skates up with every intention of hitting Boucher and Boucher lays him out and then pushes him down to the ice, like as if to say:   “Fuck you too, jerkface.”   Wooo, Boucher!   Merci pour toujours, Monsieur Boucher!

8:06: Good to know my worst fears have come true and Niskanen and Norstrom are out against Selanne.   It’s heartening to know, at least, that Niskanen and Norstrom look like two completely different players right now.

5:44: God, I hate Chris Pronger.   He just basically punched Jere Lehtinen in the face.   Whatever, Frankenstein.

4:15: The Stars hack away at Giguere to try and get a goal and more pushing and shoving ensues, as Crombeen gets dragged around and puts up no fight at all about it, and merely looks like, “Will someone get this dude OFF me?”

3:24: Come on….hang on just a little bit longer, boys!

1:22: The Ducks are making an effort…but Turco makes a totally kickin’ rad save and says ‘Screw you’ to Getzi.   Woo!

:51: Hagman looks like he just got released from Arkham Asylum.   Seriously, dude is going bananas and a half out there.

:10: Lundy’s acquired the Halpern “lose your helmet” syndrome.

:00:  GAME OVER

GUESS WHAT?

MAAAAAAAAAAAAARTY GOT A SHUTOUT!

SHUTOUTSHUTOUTSHUTOUT!  4th Career Playoff Shutout!

Attaboy, Marty!

]]> http://untypicalgirls.wordpress.com/2008/04/10/liveblog-stars-at-anaheim-041008/feed/ Caitlin